Each December, the cluster of retail design showrooms on 25th Street puts on a major showcase called the Retail Design Collective. In one week, the retail industry’s visual and creative directors take in the culmination of a year’s worth of planning; these colors, themes, and motifs become the heart of store and window design for the coming year. Design:retail magazine organizes the event and honors the best one.
This past December 3 to 7, Glenn Sokoli, vice president of marketing and creative at Bernstein Display, and adjunct associate professor of Visual Presentation and Exhibition Design, won Most Outstanding Showroom from Design:retail for his sophisticated look at upcoming trends in the display industry, informed by fashion and interior design.
The showroom was filled with gold and cork, a sustainable material that’s gaining popularity in interiors. The colors were coral and blush. Soon after the Retail Design Collective opened to the public, Pantone announced its 2019 color of the year would be Living Coral, which Sokoli saw as validation for his exhaustive trend research.
“What a validation to research and being on-trend,” Sokoli says.