A creative practice exploring time, memory, and the relationship between our lived experience and the physical world

Year & Day

Year & Day

Spaces

91 Crosby Street New York City

2018

Experiential Strategy

Spatial Design

Production

When was the last time you lifted your fork, toasted your glass, or held your plate at dinner and thought about time? Each meal of every day is a marker of time’s presence and passage. Year & Day creates tabletop goods as reminders to savor the everyday moments that make our years, and days, of life. In honor of their one-year anniversary, Year & Day opened a three-month-long concept shop as their first foray into physical retail.

1/4 A seat at the table awaits guests.

While the intent for the experience was simple—a space to sell product and host events—it was essential for the retail concept to encapsulate the brand’s pillars around the passage of time, the vastness of space, and the honor of our rituals in daily life. The store concept was derived from an exploration of life’s dualities: the vastness of the universe to the microcosm of daily routines; the brightness of morning hour to the depth of night. With this, the retail concept of “day and night” was developed as one both philosophical and visual. Color blocking across surfaces or moments with gradients defined areas that represent ‘day’ and ‘night’ within the space. Shapes referencing the moon, sun, and planets—e.g. half circles, arches, rings—were used as motifs in the spatial and fixture design. Light, a hero element, brought the concept together with a glowing and ethereal effect integrated within fixtures and on walls.

Fig 1.0 Duality Exploration

The notion of duality served as a conceptual starting point: light vs. dark; symmetry vs. balance.

Fig 2.0 Concept Rendering

An early concept rendering using color to inform duality.

1/2 The storefront at dawn.

Combining cues from the domestic kitchen with the expansive cosmos—all while creating a functioning selling and entertaining space—the retail experience was programmed around moments to inspire both pause and purchase.

Fig 1.0 Central Table

The table as the axis of the store experience: merchandising, dining, and conversing all happen here. With space to both display products and gather around, the custom table will offer inherent flexibility to accommodate dinner guests and customers alike.

Fig 2.0 Product Vignettes

A clean, bold, easily-navigable product display meets entertaining station. Built-in wall shelves, cabinets, and counter space provide an active environment for both the host and customer to interact with products and hospitality offerings alike.

Fig 3.0 Host Bar

By day, a dedicated post to assist, transact, and help customers one-on-one. By night, a fully-serviced bar for events and programming.

Fig 4.0 Constellation Installation

The moment to inspire awe and wonder. Drawing from the brand pillars of time and space, an art installation inspired by the Milky Way greets customers with a welcoming gesture. An installation of grasses and flora inspired by the Headlands surround and complement to add a sense of grounding.

Using the spatial cue of height, the taller area of the store was themed around daytime: 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. As an immersive focal point, sculptor Carla Cascales Alimbau created a hanging sculpture inspired by the Milky Way, composed of stones in colors taken from Year & Day’s product palette, with each color inspired by different time of day.

The lower area of the store was themed around nighttime with deep blue walls that 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.

Left—integrated, linen-lined drawers showcase the brand's flatware. Right—texture on the custom Host Bar.

The color palette throughout the store was inspired by the products themselves.

Photography — Guillermo Cano

Millwork & Fabrication — Square Design

Lighting — Silver Shoe Design

Custom Table — Jude di Leo

Greenery — Lucy McFadden