<<back to News Archive   5.2002 VM+SD Download PDF Furnishing a New Image How do you make your store stand out amidst the hubbub of a new, 1.5 millionsquare-foot mall that’s home to seven department store anchors and more than 140 other specialty shops? That was the challenge facing Functional Furnishings at the Polaris Fashion Place just north of Columbus, Ohio. Founded about 40 years ago as a small furniture-auction storefront in downtown Columbus, Functional Furnishings has grown into an alternative-furniture showroom stocked with internationally inspired merchandise. The owners wanted their 10,000- square-foot Polaris store to serve as a springboard for transforming the business into a major player in the Midwest’s retail furniture market. Teaming to design the store and update its brand identity were two Columbus firms, Jonathan Barnes Architecture and Design Ltd. and the Ibel Agency, an advertising and marketing firm. To help the store stand out from its mall brethren, its two entries each feature a trio of stone-clad, off-angled window displays. The intent, says principal Jonathan Barnes, is to make the store’s exterior “more akin to an art gallery of the future.” Inside, large-scale, freestanding mobile furniture displays define spaces and provide backdrops for a variety of furniture groupings. Central to the space is a fullheight, 40-foot-long curved and tilted wall clad in aluminum shingles. The wall serves as a focal point for the store’s entries and also functions as a display area for chairs. The store’s large-scale, minimalist fixtures are complemented by a series of oversized lifestyle images around the perimeter. “These photo portraits reinforce the store’s brand identity while enlivening the space,” notes Barnes.     153 EAST MAIN STREET SUITE 300 COLUMBUS, OH 43215 TEL: 614.228.7311 FAX: 614.228.7552