Love Culture

Love Culture is yet another retail brand vying for that 16- to 30-year-old female’s almighty dollar. The girlishly glamorous apparel chain is a modern, yet playful, experiment in graphics, textures and layers. And it’s taking that fusion of frivolity to 10 locales within its first year, including Chula Vista, Calif., Houston and Pembroke, Fla.

The storefront design introduces what associates at Graham Downes Architecture (San Diego) call a “peek/seek” concept, where the glass transitions from transparent to translucent to opaque, providing small glimpses of product to attract customers.

From there, shoppers are drawn into an all-white interior punched with cherry-red accents at the entry, on the ceiling and behind the cashwrap. Damask and floral graphics add a traditional finish to the modern interior. The classic fleurs-de-lis are revamped with a heart graphic and frosted onto mirrored accents for a flirtatious touch of the Love Culture brand.

Client: Love Culture Inc., Los Angeles

Design/Architect: Graham Downes Architecture Inc., San Diego, Calif. — Graham Downes, principal

General Contractor: Stone and Nelson, El Cajon, Calif.

Signage/Graphics/Branding: Hollis Brand Communications Inc., San Diego, Calif.

Fixtures: Krueger Design, Camel, Ind.

Graphics Installation: Olson Visual, Hawthorne, Calif.

Lighting: CS Illumination, Encinitas, Calif.

Photography: BHAUSmedia LLC, San Diego