Drawing architectural inspiration from the bright geometric exteriors of Brazilian favela housing and illuminated by strips of vibrant multicolour LED lighting, Samba Swirl’s Camden Town store leads the innovative frozen yogurt chain’s striking re-brand.
The brainchild of Lyndsey and David Packham, Samba Swirl launched its first outlet in 2011. The founders were inspired by California’s self servicefro-yo sellers – who make their fat-free dairy delights more delicious and more fun by letting customers serve themselves from ever-changing menus of quality yogurts and toppings.
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The winner of the Best Store Design Award at Retail Week’s 2014 Enterprise Awards, the new Camden store was designed by Mizzi Studios. The heart of the store’s design concept is its striking LED lighting system, installed and programmed by InStyle LED. Criss-crossing strips of light overlay the walls, floors and ceilings, extending out to the store’s frontage.
Avoiding the cliché of cold uninviting visuals that are often associated with frozen dairy products, the light strips create a Brazilian carnival-inspired atmosphere – sparkling on all the store’s shiny surfacesandpulsing as yogurt is dispensed. TheRGB LEDshave been programmed to mix rhythmic sequences of changing colours, in time with the beat of music playing in-store. Samba Swirl even changes the colours of its lighting to match the daily flavours on offer, for example red for strawberry and yellow for banana.
As Samba’sflagship store demonstrates, RGB light strips are an incredibly flexible lightsource. They open up fresh and exciting lighting options for all kinds of applications, including hotels, bars, retail and residential. Connected to a controller, RGB LEDs produce colours and patterns by combining and adjusting light-levels from red, blue and green chips – creating chases or any other effects that an architect can imagine.
Samba Swirl’s David Packham says, “We have been thrilled with the work that InStyle LED have done for our new flagship shop in Camden. The lighting provides a beautiful, cutting-edge effect that will give us a major competitive advantage in drawing people into the shop, and perfectly complements what is now a world-class brand as our springboard for future sites.”
There are currently four Samba Swirl stores across London. The company isalready looking to open a fifth, and plan to expand their brand across the whole of the UK.
You can see more images and learn more about the project here.
