A shop for sensing time for Year & Day

Year & Day is a direct-to-consumer tabletop company based in San Francisco that offers a minimal, thoughtful, and accessible assortment of ceramics, flatware, and glass. With the belief that setting a beautiful table can elevate the everyday, Year & Day inspires to appreciate the moments — both large and small — that make up our days, and years, of life.

In honor of their one-year anniversary, Year & Day opened a three-month-long concept shop — their first foray into physical retail — in New York City. From initial brainstorming through to installation, I led the experiential strategy, spatial design, and full production of the brand experience and retail store.

While the intent for the experience was simple — a space to sell product and host events — it became clear that Year & Day’s first store would also need to speak aptly, and richly, to the many facets of the brand: an exploration of time; an ode to space, and the sky; a nod to California; a cue to create and honor the rituals of our daily lives. Taking this, I developed the store’s concept around Day and Night, a metaphor that both represented the passing of time and played off the volumetric contrast of the existing space.

In the taller area of the store — Day — we partnered with Tappan Collective artist Carla Cascales Alimbau to conceptualize and create a hanging sculpture inspired by the Milky Way, composed of stones in colors taken from Year & Day’s product palette. A gradient of colored light washed the ceiling and walls in three hues representing those at the time of daybreak, subtly shifting from one color to the next over the course of a day.

In the lower area of the store — Night — deep blue walls anchored the space in contrast. A custom bleached maple table, designed to seat twelve, offered an area both for display and for gathering. Built into the wall were four arched alcoves — each to shop and showcase a different ceramic color — designed as exploratory vignettes, with integrated drawers for flatware and cabinets for storage within each; an intent to be a bit otherworldly in presence while familiar in use.

As Seen In: 

WWD
Vogue 
Adweek
New York Magazine

Fabrication: Square Design
Signage Design: Carla Poirier
Lighting Design: Sara McElroy
Table Design & Fabrication: Jude Heslin Di Leo
Greenery Design: Lucy McFadden
Photography: Guillermo Cano