Am I seeing double?

I came across this very cool retail design this morning via Contemporist that Alexander Nowotny a dutch architect designed for optician Hofstede Optiek in The Hague, Netherlands. 

Why am I so blown away by this? Well as a glasses wearer (since the age of 4 – and yes with an eye patch too until I was about 7) I have spent a fair amount of time visiting and shopping in opticians. All too often these spaces are simply square boxes, stuffed  to the ceiling with frames shown on wall displays – no discerning features at all to the retail space.  Then about 10 years ago the all white square box appeared on the scene, but essentially the same thing. 


It has always boggled me how other retail environments have capitalized on the experience and raised the bar. Invoking certain feelings and expectations in their customers and capitalised on the sales environment – think Laduree in Monaco by Roxanne Rodiguez, Solange Azagury-Partridge’s London store or pretty much anything by Masamichi Katayama at Wonderwall

Above Solange Azagury-Partridge

Above Laduree by Roxanne Rodiguez – image from Wallpaper Magazine


It’s about time opticians got a make over and I love the curves in this design for Hofstede Optiek, the different textures particularly of the grained wood, great lighting and inviting display modules.  It certainly makes me want to visit

Hofstede Optiek in The Hague, Netherlands. 


I was telling my husband about this and out of the blue asked if I’d seen Kirk Originals Eyewear Shop which opened recently. Of course I hadn’t, so I googled it. It’s a must visit for me next week I think. Plus the design is by Campaign Design Studio who did the wonderful pop-up shop for Dunhill

 Pop-up shop for Dunhill NYFW 2010 by Campaign

Kirk Originals










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2 Comments

  1. March 7, 2011 / 2:51 am

    fantastic stuff! x from another spectacle-wearer 🙂

  2. March 10, 2011 / 9:45 am

    Glad to me a fellow speccy with a fab blog.

    Even after all these years I still wear glasses over contacts. If I'm feeling vain and don't want to wear my glasses, I walk forth into a slightly fuzzy world – its great.

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