Retail Interior | Surefoot New York | Los Angeles Design Group

Design Principals: Claus Benjamin Freyinger, Andrew Holder
Project Team: Noah Rubin, Jesus Aguilar, Molly Hunker
Type: Tenant Improvement
Location: New York, New York
Year: 2008
Status: Realized

Client Brief

Surefoot's design problem turns on an issue of legibility: They sell a custom fitting process that is unique to the industry, but the store is stocked with rows of intensively patterned and colored boots from immediately recognizable global brands. How can an intangible process supersede or visually insinuate itself into the slick glamour of an industrial design object? The diffusion of the custom-fitting process compounds this design problem; it occurs in a series of small episodes that are not immediately legible as having anything to do with skiing or footwear. In order to fit a boot, Surefoot uses a digital scanner to create a topographic map of the customer's foot. This map is sent to a computer-controlled mill that fabricates an orthotic insert. The process is completed by injecting rapid-hardening foam into the liner of a boot while the customer stands on a canted platform designed to simulate the position and resultant stresses of the foot and ankle against the ski boot while skiing. Uninitiated customers need a spatial system to guide them through the custom fitting process. This process is unavoidably scattered through the store but also part of a coherent whole and a recognizable brand.....more here