In Industry Last updated 09 August 2021
Shoppers in Selfridges’ flagship Birmingham store are being treated to an art installation created by BCU students throughout the month of August.
'Transcendence' is an installation designed by first-year Fashion Business and Promotion students Libby Hudson, Matilda Young, Tilly Murphy, Rennae Taylor, Megan Sheldon and Katie Surtees. It will form part of an art trail including work by IKON gallery and the striking canvas wrap on the iconic building by local fashion designer and recipient of BCU Honorary Doctorate, Osman Yousefzada, which was installed earlier this year.
The installation was created as part of the Fashion Business and Promotion course’s Visual Merchandising module which asks students to consider how the physical retail experience might evolve through immersive and engaging visual communication techniques.
The project brief provided by the Selfridges team asked students to design an installation or artwork inspired by their ‘Summer Awakening’ campaign, which centres around the theme of ‘good nature’ with a hedonistic, hippy and psychedelic twist layered in.
In response to the brief, Transcendence uses hanging fabric, light and sunrise-inspired colours to create positive energy and a sense of intrigue to transport shoppers to a more positive healing place.
As Libby explains: “This campaign and design were created through thorough research into current key drivers, such as the desire to escape poor mental health, a craving for natural healing and a heightened connection to nature. From this research a creative direction was developed that captured these key issues.
“The purpose of Transcendence is to uplift the Selfridges customer to an ethereal and healing place. To bring this concept to life, we worked alongside the visual merchandising team at Selfridges, attending various meetings throughout the development process and the final installation.”
Taking on board Selfridges’ Sustainability Strategy and the theme of ‘good nature’, the students worked with BCU’s MAT_er.Lab team to develop a natural dyeing process for the fabric, including the use of avocado seeds, onion scales and the petals from a Cosmos Sulphurous plant that they have grown within the Sustainable Growth Garden at the University.
Ben Cooper from Selfridges Creative Presentation team commented: “I have absolutely loved working with the BCU students on our Summer Awakening project, the group really showed off their diverse range of creative skills. They pulled together a design which was animated and it really captured everyone’s attention and designed a stunning artwork for the Graphic element”.
Head over to Selfridges Birmingham to see Transcendence until the end of August.