FISH IN THE WATER – RED GOBLIN FLAGSHIP STORE

FISH IN THE WATER – RED GOBLIN FLAGSHIP STORE

We designed and built RED GOBLIN’s new board games shop space downtown Bucharest.

RED GOBLIN is not a shop like all others. RED GOBLIN is a place of fantasy, of magic; a place where anyone can find a bit of their more or less hidden personality.

Briefly, the design theme was creating an interesting, mysterious, friendly and original retail store, a space of stories and one that stories can be told about.

Thus, we created a game-like space, containing multiple metaphors weaved in a Feng Shui structure.

The shop has two distinct parts: the ground floor showroom area, luminous and open to the city with its large windows; and the basement area, where – like in a magic mirror – “initiates” meet their favorite characters and stories. These are present in thousands of different games displayed on the over 1 kilometer-long shelves.

For you to be able to more easily decipher the metaphoric game of the design, we have explained below some elements we weaved in the Red Goblin story.

THE PORTAL

Drawn to the spectrum tubes sign placed above the entrance, you step into the shop through a red walled and strongly lit portal that pulls you away from everyday reality and prepares you for what comes next. The checkered floor with black and white squares positioned diagonally which feels inviting even as you are standing outside the shop tells you beyond any shadow of a doubt that you have stepped into a magic realm.

INVINCIBLE ARMADA

An army of 18 superheroes (1+8 = 9, the magical number) greets you from an open display case, in a pattern of triangles, as soon as you have stepped inside. You are protected from all negative forces for the time of your visit at Red Goblin.

ENTER THE DRAGON

At the ground floor, a grid of squares surrounds the display shelves and the walls, ceiling to floor. Both the light outside and the reality of the city are delicately filtered through the products displayed on these square shelves so that you won’t feel claustrophobic. You are in the city, and yet you are not. You are at Red Goblin.

Do you know the Hong Kong skyscrapers with their quirky cutouts in the middle? Do you know why they were so designed?

Beyond the landscaping reasons, these cutouts are created for the living energy to flow – “For the dragon coming from the mountains to be able to pass through on its way to the sea” – an important reason in the Feng Shui tradition. There are many famous buildings in Asia that tribute the use of this Feng Shui motif for their success. You will find the same ‘porta fortuna’ cutouts also at Red Goblin.

FISH IN THE WATER

At the ground floor, two islands with a unique design defend the interior like guardians. We used the Chinese ideogram representing the word ‘fish’ which I stylized and then extruded in 4 directions. These islands float on the checkered floor with extra shiny black squares and matte white ones, suggesting with their reflexes the motion of the water on a calm sea.

The metaphor is ‘fish in the water’, that is for you, dear visitor, to feel so in the shop.

FRONTDESK – FLOATING ON THE WAVES

A mysterious pattern of red cubes rises from the checkered floor. On top of them sits a rounded corners black plate made of Corian, just like a surfboard floating on the frothy waves, elevated from the peaceful sea of the black and white squares.

It’s fun to shop at Red Goblin!

THE RUBIK LAMPS

The islands are lit by two Rubik cube-faced lamps. Each has 9 squares, a magical number in numerology.

Did you know that 9 is a number that no matter what you multiply it by results in a number whose added digits will result in itself?

9 x 1 = 9
9 x 2 = 18, 1 + 8 = 9
9 x 3 = 27, 2 + 7 = 9
…
9 x 123 = 1107, 1 + 1 + 0 + 7 = 9

DRAGON DANCE

In the long and roomy space in the basement, a wall painted in red lines your way. It is a symbol of the dragon dance, a ceremonial dance in Chinese culture performed during Chinese New Year. According to tradition, the dragon dance brings luck and prosperity.

Along this red wall, rooms follow one after another until the end of the shop and its most important room of all – the board games section, the core business of the Red Goblin shop. Thousands of games impatiently wait on the shelves; meanwhile, in the middle of the room, an ancient table is the stand for demonstrative games.