The Estetista Cinica’s first flagship store in Milan
Here’s a new challenge: the Estetista Cinica’s first flagship store could only be an experience for her passionate community. Everything is designed to let customers experience Veralab, not just to buy a product.
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More than a shop… a lifestyle. The Estetista Cinica’s first flagship store in Milan could only be an experience dedicated to her passionate community: everything is designed to let customers experience Veralab, not just to buy a product. The Skin Bar lets you test products seated in an armchair, the floor’s dips are drawn but look real, and the supermirror steel mezzanines reflect unexpected corners. The bestsellers vault, the industrial sushi conveyor, the fuchsia plexiglass slide for recycling bottles and neon everywhere complete the Cinico ritual.
Generating experience. After measuring ourselves against the Veralab offices, here is a new challenge: the Estetista Cinica’s first flagship store could only be an experience for her passionate community. Everything is designed to let customers experience Veralab, not just to buy a product. There are many test areas, but the most important is in the Skin Bar, where you can pick up the products and try them comfortably seated in an armchair.
Experience as fun. The floor is disorienting, with real visual dips (they are only drawn — the surface is perfectly flat). The mezzanines, like the till counter, some false ceilings and furnishing areas, are made of supermirror steel and, given their polyhedral shape, reflect unexpected corners of the space. Inside the space there were two iron pillars that were clad with two crucial elements of the project: a column of light made of neon rings and a full-height video totem, continuously broadcasting product video content.
Different areas for different functions. The whole part of the shop dedicated to the classic sale of the product is on street level. A raised platform houses the Skin Bar, an informal, separate area where customers can test the products with dedicated sinks and relax on welcoming seats, while a drink is offered from the bar unit. The mezzanine has sales areas for special products, pouches, T-shirts and other brand-related items. There are also two distorting mirrors in full cinico style: you can see yourself thinner or fatter, but the phrase above explains the trick, ‘Mirror lies, believe in yourself’.
The Vault. Under the mezzanines is a real ‘vault’ of the Estetista Cinica’s bestsellers: Luce Liquida, Olio Denso and Spumone. This area is crucial because, as well as having a scenic value, it contains two body-consultation areas.
The sushi conveyor. To emphasise the lab aspect and the industrial vocation of the space, the undisputed protagonist is a real conveyor that transports the products and has a ‘hidden’ origin, as if they arrived straight from the factory.
The neon. There cannot be an Estetista Cinica flagship without neon. Neon everywhere: on the ceiling, on the walls, square or vertical, both to indicate the shop’s main areas and as a decorative element.
The slide. A fuchsia plexiglass slide connects the two levels: customers can throw their empty Veralab bottles down it and, every 3 bottles, get a token to collect a free face mask from a gumball machine, like a real funfair.
The Skyline. The unit holding all the main products is called Skyline. It is made of lacquered columns with fuchsia mirrors that punctuate the themed product areas, while the main products with regular cardboard packs are inside plexiglass cases.
