The Retail Design Institute (RDI; Cincinnati) honored the year’s best projects with more than 30 awards for design and innovation at its 47th Awards Gala and Fundraiser May 23, 2018, at New York’s Chelsea Piers.
Store of the Year was awarded to Australian skin care brand Ikou (Sydney) designed by Pinto Tuncer (Collingwood, Australia). 2017’s winning class comprises more than 30 projects from around the globe, many of which you’ve read about exclusively in the pages of VMSD.
Among them: Gnome Grown (Oregon City, Oregon) by The High Road Design Studio (Tempe, Ariz.), Hershey’s Chocolate World (Hershey, Pa.) by Fitch (Columbus, Ohio), Huawei (Shenzhen, China) by Alessandro Luciani Designer (Rieti, Italy) and Solestice (New York) by Christian Lahoude Studio (New York).
The organization’s Legion of Honor also named VMSD Editorial Advisory Board Member Brian Shafley, CEO, Chute Gerdeman (Columbus), as its 2017 inductee. “I designed a cardboard pet shop inside a Thom McAn shoebox for a 5th grade school project – and I’ve been hooked ever since,” says Shafley of his chosen career.
Funds raised at the event will be used as cash prizes for the winners, and their schools, of the Student Design Competition. For more information on the awards, please visit
gala47.org.