As part of the LVMH x Central Saint Martins partnership, BA Architecture and MA Narrative Environments students and alumni worked with LVMH to deliver designs for a ‘Green Concept Store’. This is a great initiative that aims to raise awareness and mobilise key players towards a significant reduction in the ecological impact of fashion commerce.
LVMH Partners With Central Saint Martins For A ‘Green Concept Store’
Can biodegradable materials truly reflect the values of a luxury brand? Thanks to the extensive research of Central Saint Martins students and graduates the answer is ‘yes’. BA Architecture and MA Narrative Environments students and alumni have been working with LVMH to design an ambitious customer experience grounded in sustainable practices and materials as part of the LVMH x Central Saint Martins partnership.
Working to a set floor plan, three teams submitted concepts that focused on sustainability and environmental performance, this was conveyed aesthetically through the choice of construction materials and eco-friendly ventilation systems in addition to the sophistication synonymous with the luxury conglomerate. Design features included upcycling, innovative eco-materials, agile modular display and algae filtration which would release purified oxygen into the store. The designers’ ideas were presented through sketches, visuals, mood boards, storyboards and technical drawings, including an ECOdesign audit. The plans also took into account visual merchandising displays and overall customer experience.
“[Working with LVMH staff] was refreshing as they would help to balance the ambition of the students with the professional understanding of how to turn radical concepts into real experiences,” said Jordan Cottage, Central Saint Martins BA (Hons) Architecture graduate.
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LVMH Partners With Central Saint Martins For A ‘Green Concept Store’
The winning team, ‘Journey’, was made up of four Central Saint Martins students – Annie Hung, Marta Kedziora, John Langran and Lingze Wang – and graduate Jordan Cottage. The work takes inspiration from Caspar David Friedrich’s 1818 painting ‘Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog’ in which a traveller stands atop a mountain, surveying the natural beauty which surrounds him. In the store design, the customer travels through a valley, cave and forest before reaching the pinnacle of a first-floor ‘mountain-top’ bar from which they can survey the landscape before them.
“The collaboration with industry professionals and environmental consultants, and the research and sourcing of innovative materials pushed our students beyond their comfort zones. This project provided real-life experience that challenged them to integrate their research and design skills with their embedded understanding of environmental principles and concerns,” said Oscar Bonito-Gonzalez, Senior Academic for Spatial Practices.
LVMH: Commitment To The Environment
The LVMH Group is using the power of its influence to galvanize the luxury industry through concrete actions and to drive far-reaching changes to help protect ecosystems. To combine sustainability and desirability, in 2020 LVMH launched LIFE 360 (LVMH Initiatives for the Environment), an action program based on quantified objectives for 2023, 2026 and 2030. It has four strategic pillars: creative circularity, biodiversity, climate, traceability and transparency.
LVMH is part of a process of continuous progress: A Water strategy adapted to the Group’s businesses and an action program dedicated to supporting its suppliers have rounded out LIFE 360 since 2023. A reporting system organized by the Group’s 75 Maisons makes it possible to report on the progress of these objectives, and structures LVMH’s responses to the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive). An approach facilitated by a network of nearly 200 environmental correspondents within the Maisons.
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Jasmeen Dugal is Associate Editor at FashionABC, contributing her insights on fashion, technology, and sustainability. She brings with herself more than two decades of editorial experience, working for national newspapers and luxury magazines in India.
Jasmeen Dugal has worked with exchange4media as a senior writer contributing articles on the country’s advertising and marketing movements, and then with Condenast India as Net Editor where she helmed Vogue India’s official website in terms of design, layout and daily content. Besides this, she is also an entrepreneur running her own luxury portal, Explosivefashion, which highlights the latest in luxury fashion and hospitality.
