RETAIL DESIGN REINVENTION | BRANDED ENVIRONMENT | CONCEPT TO DELIVERY | PROTOTYPES | DESIGN + FABRICATION | MODULAR FIXTURES & DISPLAY | STYLIST & GUEST EXPERIENCE | SIGNAGE & WAY-FINDING | SUSTAINABILITY

Del Amo, Torrance, California - 2022

“I loved learning and working with the A-Team at QUAY to re-imagine what is possible for their future success leading the way in the eye-wear retail landscape. A big thank you to everyone for their open minds, smart problem solving, and incredible listening and leadership superhero powers. We could not have conceived, tested and delivered such a wonderful new test concept store without everyone working together and trusting in the design process. As a retail design consultant I could not have asked for a better client to share my experience with.”

— Bart Chin, May 30, 2023

TESTIMONIALS:

From: Kim Gray · 1stFirst degree connection, Head of Retail at Quay, January 21, 2023,

”It was an absolute pleasure to work with Bart on creating Quay's Shop of the Future. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Bart and came to know him as an impressive designer and collaborator that was able to bring the brand to life in a way that exceeded our expectations. Bart is an incredible human being who is truly passionate about what he does and is laser focused on supporting and delivering to his client's.”

From: Andrew Thompson, QUAY Retail Operations Manager, December 22, 2022

”Hi Bart,

I just wanted to say thank you for all you did to get our new Del Amo store across the line for last week’s grand opening, and for producing something that has so clearly surpassed everything in our portfolio of stores today. Both from the perspective of the employee as well as the customer, everything about the space is welcoming, modern, relevant, and warm – a huge improvement over our existing stores in every imaginable way. Your choice of materials and lighting makes it feel luxurious without being pretentious, and is rugged enough to suit the brand DNA and wear well over time in [what we hope will be!] a high traffic environment. Most importantly, the new store design concept elevates us to a level that embodies the spirit of QUAY in a way that is mature, sophisticated, and fun, and truly feels like the store of tomorrow.

It was a pleasure and privilege working with you, and I sincerely hope we can cross paths on future projects!

All the best,”

CREDITS:

“Props to an incredibly awesome collaboration with Brian and A-Team at Purpose Fabrication.” Huntington Beach, California — Bart Chin, Design Advisor. March, 21, 2023

“It was honor and delight to sharpen my design chops with the full Master Jedis at Purpose. Their 24/7 focus commitment, and adaptability is impressive and much respected.” — Bart Chin, Retail Design Consultant. March, 21, 2023

Photos by the talented Devin Briggs at STARCH CREATIVE

HISTORIC RENNOVATION | BRANDED ENVIRONMENT | INTERIOR DESIGN | CUSTOM FURNITURE DESIGN | WORKPLACE STRATEGY | SIGNAGE & WAYFINDING | ROI

Dogpatch, San Francisco, California - 2018

We were delighted when ThirdLove selected us to create their new 45,000 sq. foot Headquarters in thriving Dogpatch. This up and coming area dates back to shipbuilding in the 1800’s and has a gritty industrial vibe. Former gigantic warehouses are being converted into cutting edge new workplaces and the street scene is vibrant with hip restaurants, local craft shops and residential lofts filled with architects, artists and designers.

Our biggest ask by the Head of Brand was how to transform ThirdLove’s brand into a historic rare all brick building. With their brand color being blush we decided to holistically design in more white walls and frame them with wood beams to provide a canvas for their brand to shine.

Part of our design chops is to work in our clients current office and also immerse ourselves at the new construction site. This allows us to learn first hand our clients multi-functional team needs, improve flow and create new solutions on how to elevate their sense of creativity and connection to their co-working space. A key part of our design philosophy is to adapt and custom build in residential inspired gathering or solo spaces for people to relax, focus and do their best work effortlessly.

A highlight of the project was our great collaboration with a talented local wood craftswoman and master metal fabricator to create our custom designed furniture. Our intent was to express ThirdLove’s female empowering brand in a unique west coast inspired way.

The ultimate reward of delivering this new Headquarters is seeing everyone’s joy of having a home away from home to get their work done with style and ease.

“The design team of Bart Chin and Kendall Ermshar collaborated with the ThirdLove team to craft a space that feels both cheerful and warm, that caters to whimsy and hard work while inspiring creativity.”

— Heidi Zak, CEO and Co-Founder

Press:

https://blog.thirdlove.com/our-brand-from-floor-to-ceiling-thirdloves-stunning-new-office/

https://www.officelovin.com/2019/04/19/a-look-inside-thirdloves-new-san-francisco-headquarters/

https://medium.com/@heidizaks/5-office-design-tips-that-can-improve-team-collaboration-and-boost-morale-e593fb062238

https://www.inc.com/heidi-zak/great-office-design-can-improve-team-collaboration-morale-here-are-5-ideas-to-boost-your-space.html

https://outofoffice.room.com/inside-thirdloves-san-francisco-office/

RETAIL DESIGN REINVENTION | BRANDED ENVIRONMENT | INNOVATION LAB | PROTOTYPING | MODULAR FIXTURES & WALL PERIMETER SHOP WITHIN SHOPS | EDUCATOR & GUEST EXPERIENCE | SIGNAGE & WAYFINDING | SCALABILITY | SUSTAINABILITY

Vancouver, British Columbia - 2014

Honored to lead and create Store of the Future next level retail reinvention and epic growth template for Lululemon.

It was exciting living and working in British Columbia with a company so passionate about transformative leadership and development of self and others. This included an openness for us to learn first hand and then improve on an already super successful experiential retail + people design DNA.

Biggest contributions are elevating the Educator and Guest experience and creating a customizable new store design that is modular, aspirational, scalable and beacon of good energy.

This game-changing work was created prior to founding Bart Chin Design.

BRANDED INTERIOR ENVIRONMENT | MOBILE RETAIL DESIGN | CREATIVE VISION | CONCEPT TO DELIVERY | EXPERIENTIAL PROTOTYPING | CUSTOM FIXTURE DISPLAY & FURNITURE | GUEST & FIT THERAPIST EXPERIENCE

San Francisco, California - 2016

Harnessing design to help the underdog kickass is what we are made to do. So when the Founder of True & Co called on us to develop a more customized and personal try on bra experience for a mobile showroom, we jumped on board.

Being a nimbe A-Team we set up shop in True’s office and worked side by side with each of Michelle's team leaders. This provided the right hands on immersion for us to learn and put into practice our design tools and retail expertise. Onsite we prototyped actual size custom built product displays and fitting rooms to experience first hand and dial in our crafted design work with ninja accuracy.

To further educate the power of human centered design and how that effects the customer experience we taped up the architectural plan of the Try On Truck on True's workspace floor and also did wall elevations of all of our designs. This methodology allowed for us to show the purpose of the customer journey from the outside approach to the inside personalized experience. Making the interior beautiful was the easy part that we saved for last.

“Bart single handedly helped True & Co. conceptualize and execute on 2 completely new "nomadic retail experiences" in less than 8 months. He pairs retail design expertise with a true customer-centric point of view. This is very rare. Our team enjoyed collaborating with Bart given his creativity and hard work. He embraced our design challenges - and our challenging timelines - with extreme positivity. Bart, we loved working with you!”

— Michelle Lam, President

True & Co. is an American online lingerie startup that is elevating women's custom bra fit while empowering women to feel positive.

True & Co. was acquired by Calvin Klein in 2017

NEW HEADQUARTERS DESIGN | BRANDED ENVIRONMENT |HISTORIC RENOVATION | WORKSPACE | CUSTOM FURNITURE DESIGN | VISUAL CURATION | REUSE - REPURPOSE - SUSTAINABILITY

Old Oakland, California - 2019

Special Collaboration Project with NOMA DESIGN & CO.

Along side ThredUP and building owners 11 West Partners, we renovated and redesigned a beautiful historical building built in 1870 in Old Oakland. Our design respects original architectural elements while honoring ThredUP’s brand ethos of sustainability and reuse.

As a used clothing retailer, it was important to ThredUp to source used furniture, re-design existing furniture and keep historic design elements that told a story about the building. While problem solving the original pine flooring, more than a century old, we discovered that every nail was hand made and it became a joy embracing a wabi sabi mindset of integrating patchwork into this new HQ renovation.

Key custom features of the design include tables built from 150 yr old wood beams, built in nook seating to take advantage of sunny alcoves, a customized reception desk, branded book reception wall and design of the outdoor patio - providing another indoor + outdoor space for employees to collaborate and host events.

Photos by Adrian Gregorutti

“Working with Noma on this project was a dream. Tasked with the creation of a new office space for our mission-based secondhand retail company amid a major historic renovation, Noma exceeded every expectation. They immediately shared and embraced our vision to bring this beautiful space back to life while preserving its history, repurposing as much of our existing furniture as possible, and sourcing anything else needed secondhand. The results and the process itself were not just on time and on budget, but collaborative and inspiring. The resulting space Noma created for us thoughtfully and beautifully reflects our values. We feel so lucky to work here! Thank you, thank you, Kendall, Bart & Simone.”

— Erin Wallace, VP Integrated Marketing

“When we hired NOMA, we were confident that they possessed the creativity and design acumen to deliver something beautiful. After reflecting on the experience, we learned that NOMA could also deliver on deadlines and budgets while remaining flexible to adjust to our evolving needs. The NOMA team was truly a pleasure to work with and we felt that they were always very conscious of our ultimate goals. I wouldn’t hesitate to work with them again. ”

— Alon Rotem, General Counsel and Head of Business Development

BRANDED ENVIRONMENT | NEW HQ + WORKPLACE | INTERIOR DESIGN | CUSTOM FURNITURE & DISPLAY | VISUAL CURATION

Union Square, San Francisco, California - 2017

For True & Co's new headquarters we custom designed the entire environment for women to feel good, be energized and focused all at the same time.

Look and feel cues are from True's brand influence of Sea Ranch, New York City and Palm Springs. The overall vibe is high-end residential meets inspirational workspace.

There are five holistic parts to this global creative hub. It starts with a dreamy entry lounge which then flows into loft like creative conference rooms. It then leads into an open workspace with tons of leafy plants and adjacent product inventory wall with high end rolling racks. The most popular space is the Instagramable worthy kitchen with long rustic harvest tables for mucho collaboration or solo zen tea time.

The most rewarding part of this project is seeing how lit up the team at True are everyday coming into their new headquarters ready to take on the world.

CONCEPTUAL | INTERIOR DESIGN | ARCHITECTURE | FUNCTIONAL DESIGN | CUSTOM BUILT IN FURNITURE + FIXTURES | VISUAL CURATION | SUSTAINABILITY

Northern California - 2028

This special project is inspired by Sea Ranch and mid century modern Japanese design ethos.

It is intended for people to enjoy the art of living indoors and outdoors.

NEW TEST LAB STORE + FLAGSHIP | RETAIL DESIGN | BRAND STRATEGY | VISUAL MERCHANDISING + PRODUCT STORY DESIGN LAYOUT | SUSTAINABILITY

Union Square, San Francisco, California - 2016

It was a pleasure having this opportunity to guide and collaborate with the CEO and her multi-functional leadership teams in creating their first brick and mortar test lab store.

Minted is the leading independent design company that brings unique, best-selling design to market at scale.

REVITALIZATION CONCEPT DESIGN | REBRANDING STRATEGY | ARCHITECTURE | RETAIL DESIGN | INTERIOR DESIGN | SIGNAGE & WAYFINDING | SUSTAINABILTY

Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco, California - 2018

CBRE came to Bart to breath some fresh retail thinking into their Anchorage Square Building. Our response was a visionary concept presentation showing how to rebrand the entire building and make it a new iconic San Francisco destination for tourists and local community.

Our inspirations came from the coastal modern architecture of northern California's Sea Ranch and outdoor/indoor experience of Pikes Place Market in Seattle. We also drew on prefabrication techniques to transform the building by reskinning it with west coast influenced materials and lighting. Our goal was to make the new building a beacon that could be seen from far away while also draw people in up close to engage and explore. Our design approach included new store design, branding, signage, living walls, updated Muni transit design, and parkades.

Giving this new marketplace a "LOVE LOCAL" theme seemed like a natural fit for showcasing some of the Bays newest pioneers of Californian crafted ice cream, coffee, beer, grab and go, entertainment, fitness and awesome interactive energy.

Fisherman's Wharf just happens to be the number one tourist destination in the Bay and ripe for meaningful change that shines San Francisco’s golden magic brightly.

This project was designed for CBRE Group, Inc. which is a commercial real estate services and investment firm. It is the largest company of its kind in the world.

SPECIAL PROJECT | DESIGN & BUILD | CIRCULAR SUSTAINABILITY

Masonic Center, San Francisco, California - 2017

We were chosen by the architects on Airbnb’s Environments team to problem solve and execute their design concept for their annual 5000 person world wide employee One Airbnb Conference event in San Francisco.

This project was super challenging and the satisfaction of pulling it off was amazing for everyone to experience. We collaborated with our friends at MAFIA Bags to lend their expertise with reusing and repurposing used sails. In addition the head sail maker at North Sails was also brought in to lend his hands on master technical craftsmanship. Our biggest goal crush was to span the great distance with the thin sail strips and to seemlessly integrate them onto the iconic architecture.

This massive rapidly produced special event design was prefabricated and custom fit onsite with a seamstress and sewing machine. It was assembled the night before the event and was dismantled after the end of the conference the following day.

“The level of excitement and expertise you guys brought to this project is what made everything happen.”

— Lawrence Davidson, architect at Airbnb Environments.

Collaboration with friends at MAFIA BAGS and NORTH SAILS.

ART DIRECTOR

Carlsbad, California - 2004

Founded and led Spy's first new Art Department.

Designed and orchestrated new brand concepts and branding and for all team sports. This included sunglasses, RX and google product catalogs for surf, skate, snow, and motocross. In addition, lead new creative solutions for product and lifestyle photography, advertising, website, packaging, in store point of purchase, vehicles, fixtures, trade shows and headquarters design.

SPY is an unconventional, fun-loving family of athletes and artists committed to creating exceptional optical products since 1994.

Select snapshots sharing past retail design work.