LEE BROOM — THE DEPARTMENT STORE
Where did the concept of a Department Store come from?
What were the challenges of getting the installation set up in Milan? With such a large scale installation there are always challenges. The first challenge started 3 weeks before Milan started which was to entirely refurbish the space from 5 individual shops into once large space over two floors. The next challenge was getting everything over to Milan from London in one piece as we didn’t just have the products themselves but also all the glass display cabinets, mannequins and hundreds of props that were used to style the space. What are the influences in the collection? I wanted to explore all the things that inspire me right now; from new materials, vivid colours, pop culture,
Each department acted as a backdrop which was finished in Lee Broom signature grey to accentuate the colours and materials of the new pieces. This collection has a lot more colour than used in previous collections and I wanted that to stand out in the show. I was also inspired by the surrealist photography of 1930’s photographers such as Horst and Manray who used lots of mannequins and props in their black and white photography. The exhibition was almost like being in a black and white movie. hat did you do before you started W your own design brand? I started out in theatre school and the plan was to continue being a professional actor, however my career took a change of direction after I won a fashion design competition at the age of 17 judged by Vivienne Westwood. I then went to go on to work for Vivienne before studying for a degree in fashion design at Central St Martins. During my degree I provided décor advice to a number of independent bars across London which cemented an organic move into interior design for around 4 years before I launched the Lee Broom brand in 2007.
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It was after I saw the space on Via Capellini and the idea of turning a street of disused shops into my own Department Store sounded appealing. This was also our largest collection to date, there are around 25 new pieces from furniture to lighting to accessories and all those pieces seemed to fall into 10 mini collections. Therefore it was key to be able to present them in their own settings, so a department store worked well with that concept. Visitors to the show moved from tableau to tableau through the exhibition, with each environment representing a surreal take on a different department – including The Perfumery, Ladies Accessories, Fitting Rooms, Book Store and Haberdashery.
craft culture, techniques from the past and shapes from the future. The collection features new materials and new interpretations of those used in previous collections. Each piece incorporates some kind of traditional manufacturing techniques in an innovative way. Why is everything presented on a grey background?