Neiman Marcus

Luxury Lives on in Lenox

This was a strategic redevelopment for a store that had not been substantially remodeled since 1990. While the primary objective was to reallocate space and re-align categories in order to maximize productivity, it was also an opportunity to create a space that would complement and enhance the expanding Neiman Marcus art collection and further leverage its position as the luxury retailer in this market.

Sparks combined the disciplines of architecture, interior design and lighting to promote the concept for this store. The result instantly communicates the Neiman Marcus commitment to luxury and quality while also reinvigorating the sense of bold contemporary style long associated with Neiman Marcus.

Art Enhances Fashion

Neiman Marcus has always demonstrated a unique connection to the communities it serves. While offering the best of the best, this retailer recognizes the importance of the transformational shopping experience that goes beyond the traditional boundaries of retailing. This can be witnessed in their fine art collection of regional and local artists with works strategically located throughout the store plan. Recognizing the importance of this collection to the Neiman Marcus shopping experience, the Sparks team set forth to create a setting that enhances the collection rather than treating it as an element of interior decoration.

Hot Color, Bold Vision

Taking cues from the modern art collection, color and contrast is carefully distributed. Neutral colors and lush textures are utilized throughout, and crisp white expanses dominate the design. There are surprises of hot citrus hues that punctuate key moments.

Moments of Luxury

The store was planned for ease of navigation and designed using attractors to move shoppers between areas. The concept terminology developed to describe these places of emphasis was “moments of luxury.” The overall design challenge was to create a contemporary, but not hard edge environment; one that is comfortably modern.

Lighting Sets a Stage

Artisan lighting was introduced in several departments. The intimate apparel department features hand twisted artisan glass ribbons suspended in a large central concentric. Hundreds of these ribbons cast a shimmering light in the space.

Lighting over the bar seating in the NM Café features an overhead circular plate of stainless steel that is pierced with colorful glass pendant lights in the colors found in sorbets.

The lighting in Contemporary Sportswear uses bold ceiling reveals breaking up expansive ceilings and containing adjustable track lights. The reveals meet walls transferring this dramatic break up to perimeters.

A New Landscape for Jewelry

The Designer Jewelry department tested a new vitrine concept in Atlanta, sleek glass cubes with textured hammered glass backs were suspended in floor to ceiling screen dividers. Vitrines and showcases are set at multiple heights and create a more animated visual horizon. Large circular showcase tables frame in the David Yurman shop and set centered adjacent to floor to ceiling windows along the back wall.