Espresso with Raphael Henry “I tracked down the team that ‘invented’ the name Baselworld.”
{May 4th, 2020} At a time when the need to build or organize exhibition spaces has never been so focused on Geneva, ‘Brandstorm brand architects’ based in Carouge is facing an unusual demand. Interview with its founder.
Interview by Joël A. Grandjean, editor in Chief JSH® Magazine
It all starts with a meeting with Raphaël Henry and his work at the retail design agency ‘Brandstorm brand architects’, retail architecture, branding and visual retail, packaging.
Booth, display case, global design and architectural package
I browsed through a series of emotionally charged pictures: areas to live and move around in booths, redesigning exhibition spaces, materials, digital, experiential, award-winning display case designs, right down to the smallest packaging accessory able to support a brand’s identity cohesiveness. A surprising collection of booth concepts and structures. At the end, almost incidentally, I came across a familiar logo, the ‘Baselworld’ logo, so recognizable with its sparkling mane around the ‘B’.
Do they also create logos at Brandstorm? Wearing a mask and gloves, I went to the surroundings of Geneva, to ARCOOP, this fascinating incubator of local crafts and métiers d’art with start-ups all over. The atmosphere is creative, stimulating, the door is ajar. A spacious open space, populated by giant Apple screens set in series on a linear and long worktop, fits into a decor of models and sample materials.
In Brandstorm’s premises, that delicious organized mess that’s worth all the 3D simulations
Of course, computers are shut down, confinement is necessary. Here, teleworking has been in full swing since January already.
Conceptual power with builder’s hands
Raphael Henry is a creative, pure kind. Except that he is also capable of realizing part of the 1000 ideas he get, by the concreteness of a monumental construction as much as by the miniature of a specific packaging. Far from any nostalgic vertigo in front of his prestigious CV, his head is thrust into the future to create, to realize. He says “he needs his team, that he likes to bring people together”. He also spoke of the “collective intelligence that blurs the egos by tracing a common thread between people”. Clearly, he inspires his team and his company with a sense of content. So he seems a little annoyed to have to talk about his role in the design of Baselworld:
Joel A. Grandjean: Did you really ‘invent’ Baselworld?
Raphaël Henry: Honestly, I would prefer to talk today about current projects, such as Royal Quartz or the watch brands that are approaching us to solve their global retail or to discover our invention in digital retail (Drop-to-shop.com). Moreover, we are less often approached to talk about Corporate ID. “Invented” isn’t the right word. And even though the name Baselworld did come from our team, there were a lot of emulations around the table. We have won this competition which allowed us to package the strategy developed and defended by the visionary Monica Linder Guarnaccia, then Marketing Director of the Salon. It was in 2002, the name, the logo, it was part of the package. I had just come back from the United States, I had just made the choice to become independent… it was encouraging, it was rewarding.
What can be learned from such an experience for the future?
That our team is fully capable of “packaging” a global strategy, even participating in its elaboration, while materializing its conceptual as well as architectural frameworks. This kind of project is rare, like what we did in Paris for Royal Quartz Movado Group, for Bulova in the Empire State Building or for Geneva Tourism. Looking back to Basel, I would like to highlight what Brandstorm architects did for the Movado Group, namely the integration of its booths in Hall 1 (South), which we have completely redesigned. This allowed us to deal also with about fifty other brands such as Zenith, Shinola or Doxa…
Do you also accept less ambitious projects?
Our expertise is not reserved for gigantography, but extends to the detail of a space layout, a reorganization of visitor flows or even a display case such as those we created for Hermès as a result of a contest. (He points it out to me on a shelf). Mega-projects, followed by construction and concrete achievements in the real world, have the advantage of validating a know-how in design and construction that can be applied to any kind of project. We like to take up every challenge because our greatest satisfactions come from those incredible customers, large and small, independent or groups, who have used our experience to bring up complete, inhabited, soulful stands from the empty floor. Or to make obvious, in given settings, spaces to be lived in and to move around.
Spaces to be lived in and to move around that catch for the host as well as for the visitor, the tiniest bit of branded DNA
Can you also imprint yourself on pre-existing structures?
Of course, our logics validated by the real world can be applied to any type of structure or equipment, as soon as it is a question of bringing a new radiance or optimized efficiency. Creating and implementing is a true passion. We are proud, for example, when a real event, a real public, in flesh and blood, borrows the conceptual tracings that we have managed to materialize. It’s stimulating to participate in the valorisation of a brand’s history. Rare are those that start from scratch in terms of identity values.
In watchmaking and jewellery, Geneva is becoming “the place to be” to exhibit, already in September at the EPHJ and in November at GemGenève. Then everything is likely to accelerate for April 2021? Are you ready?
Yes, especially since containment boosted our creativity. Ready already for 2020, even if the two trade fairs you mention offer already structured modules. This can give even more ideas to those who want to optimize their interior spaces, to bring them to fruition. In any case, also for 2021, it is already quite urgent.
in Geneva, we’re going to face to a flood of new actors. There will be a multiplicity of spaces to be invented or reinvented, of places to be lived, of sensitivities and experiences
Some are anticipating since, even through teleworking, we have to cope with the increase in demand since the announcements of Rolex and LVMH. Many are taking pre-existing equipment or structures with them. We are looking forward to receiving the large independents, the brands of the groups and the smaller ones as well.
Photos albums on Instagram ou in Dropbox
Brandstorm at a glanc
Established in 2002, Brandstorm, brand architects is a brand image revealer. It respects and transcends the identity values of its customers’ labels. This global retail design firm specialising in watch and jewellery encompasses three departments that are already focused on the rapidly growing challenges of watch exhibitions in Geneva: retail architecture, retail design, visual marchandising and packaging. Material and environmental ethics, swissness practices and deadlines. A dream team committed as much to the local concept as to the international execution, to prestigious boutiques or shopping galleries, to experiential oriented retail spaces thanks to the integration of digital and new technologies.
Fairs and exhibition halls, booths, naming, image consistency, strategy, temporary spaces or sustainable structures, pop up stores, shops in shops, spatial organisation of spaces, circulation of audiences and visitor flows, technical developments, integration in given places, creation of meeting and exchange areas at the heart of given spaces, technical developments (creation and support).
Some key references: Geneva Tourism, Scuderia Ferrari, Rolex, Patek Philippe, Chopard, Hermès, Vacheron Constantin, Baume & Mercier, Montblanc, Zenith, Victorinox, Doxa, Bulova, Fossil, Graham, Shinola Detroit, Hugo Boss, Lacoste, Galeries Lafayette / Royal Quartz, Renault, Tommy Hilfiger, Coach, Movado Group Inc, LVMH, Fossil Group, Baselworld.
Originally published on May 4th, 2020 at https://www.linkedin.com.
