Kinnersley Kent designs for Fortnum & Mason Japan

Luxury retailer Fortnum & Mason has unveiled two new stores in Japan, with interior concepts by Kinnersley Kent Design that seek to position the retailer in a traditional and classically English vein.

The concept is part of Fortnum and Mason’s ambitious Japanese plans and will be rolled out to a further 11 new stores by the end of the year.

Fortnum & Mason’s managing director Beverley Aspinall appointed Kinnersley Kent to the interiors work, following its part in the company’s £24m refurbishment scheme in London currently taking place. In Japan, the consultancy has worked alongside Fortnum & Mason’s commercial and marketing director Alison Jordan.

As part of the Japan project, the consultancy was briefed with taking the atmosphere of the ‘quintessential Fortnum & Mason style’ in the UK and applying it to the smaller stores in Japan. Additionally, it was tasked with developing a store concept that more accurately reflected the Piccadilly site in London, while sitting comfortably within the contemporary shopping environments of Lalaport Yokohama and Midland Square Nagoya.

Both these stores appear in malls alongside other prestigious brands and feature a space selling ‘ambient and fresh products’ and a tearoom area.

They are based on a traditional design and feature Georgian elements, as well as Fortnum & Mason’s distinctive colour palette to create an environment that will appeal to ‘the many Japanese consumers familiar with the London store’.

Amyas Wade, the associate at Kinnersley Kent who led the design, says, ‘The new stores are very traditional, as they are in the UK. There wasn’t really any atmosphere in the existing stores in Japan, but we have created [one] for the new stores. We wanted to keep that quirky feel. The tearooms have been made comfortable using red carpets and we have used the colour that appears in the branding as well as the deep red, in keeping with the history of the store. In Japan you have really got to stand out as being different’.

FULL OF EASTERN PROMISE
• Fortnum & Mason is undergoing a £24m refurbishment scheme using a team of designers to revamp the store’s brand and retail environments
• There are currently six Fortnum & Mason stores in Japan of varying sizes featuring the original concept, plus the two new stores and a further 11 planned to open later this year with interiors by Kinnersley Kent
• Established in 1707, Fortnum & Mason gained its reputation as a luxury retailer in the 1780s when it became a purveyor of spices and condiments sourced by the East India Company