TALKS
Creative Hour: Retail Design
September 9, 2025 | 5:30 PM
Retail design in today’s dynamic market environment has become increasingly important, as it not only defines the physical space but also actively shapes the user experience, emotional engagement, and brand perception. A retail space is no longer a passive frame for product display – it has become a dynamic platform for interaction, emotional communication, and the creation of lasting connections between brand and consumer.
On Tuesday, September 9 at 5:30 PM, at Urania – Space of Creation, architects Anita Krmek, Jelena Babić, and Marja Mia Kolendić, co-founders of the Zagreb-based studio Salon 33, will present the complexity of retail design through a critical and architectural lens, showcasing their projects: the Fercera showroom and DermaCare beauty center.
Today’s retail space is polyvalent: beyond ensuring effective product presentation, it actively builds a brand narrative through spatial dramaturgy, materiality, lighting, and user flows. In a world dominated by digital experiences, the physical retail environment must offer added value – an authentic, multi-sensory experience that invites emotional response. In this way, retail design becomes the bridge between marketing strategy and consumer psychology.
Designing such spaces requires a deep understanding of consumer behavior, as well as an interdisciplinary approach that integrates marketing objectives, visual communication, ergonomics, and contemporary technological solutions. In their projects, Salon 33 demonstrates how spatial organization and material palettes can highlight brand exclusivity while simultaneously creating pleasant and functional environments that encourage user engagement.
The Fercera showroom exemplifies how a luxury brand can articulate its value through architectural design and stand out in the market. The DermaCare beauty center distinguishes itself as a space whose design actively fosters a sense of comfort, trust, and privacy – key elements in the health and beauty industry.
The lecture will also critically examine contemporary challenges in retail design, such as the integration of digital technologies, sustainability, and adaptation to new consumption models, where user experience becomes the central focus of the design process.
This Creative Hour is not just a project presentation but a deeper reflection on how architecture can shape the invisible aspects of consumer experience, transforming retail space into both a strategic branding tool and a place of social interaction in the physical world.
Seats are limited, so please reserve your spot here. Admission is free!
