Portland wins Rigby & Peller job

Portland Design has this week had interior concepts approved for luxury underwear brand Rigby & Peller’s first venture into mass market retailing.

The British Airports Authority has signed off designs for a Heathrow Airport store that Rigby & Peller managing director David Kenton says will be the first of a series, as the company gears up for expansion and the possible sale of the family-owned business.

‘We don’t want a shop on every high street, but want to replicate [the Heathrow format] in specific, affluent areas,’ he says.

Kenton describes Rigby & Peller’s two existing shops as ‘destination stores’ and says the company realised the existing ‘traditional boudoir’ format needed to be contemporised for use in other sites.

Portland Design managing director Ibrahim Ibrahim says the consultancy was briefed to create a concept that captured ‘the opulent, luxurious essence of Rigby & Peller’ in a retail environment that targets impulse shoppers and men looking to buy gifts.

The consultancy has created interiors, signage and product coding for the store, which is scheduled to open in March.