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A digital exploration of contemporary and classic design in the Metaverse
How we utilised The Conran Shop’s iconic product collection to create an immersive installation exploring design’s role in an intriguing new virtual world
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In celebration of London Design Festival 2022, we invited a global set of artists to reimagine design classics from The Conran Shop’s AW22 collection in a digital realm.
Following on from our Load of Jargon and Private View exhibitions at The Conran Shop’s Chelsea location, the iconic design store invited It’s Nice That to reimagine its AW22 collection for this year’s London Design Festival. Our team subsequently developed the concept Meet Me in the Metaverse, in which digital artists would recreate contemporary and classic design pieces, causing the digital and physical to collide in a playful installation.
The Conran Shop’s aim for this installation was to host a variety of creatives at their store; from lovers of classic design to contemporary artists pushing boundaries in their respective mediums. This led our editorial and art direction teams to explore ideas which would present creative juxtaposition, in turn choosing the digital world as an explorative space to consider physical product design.
Utilising It’s Nice That’s global network of creatives, our team curated a group of six digital artists to commission. Chosen for their ability to create hyperreal digital artworks, each creative was given a piece of furniture from The Conran Shop’s collection to reimagine in their own stylistic tendencies. The results saw a varied mix of visual outputs, from Pierre Paulin’s Groovy Chair reinvented into a dancing seat made via VR sculpting by Dutch duo Yonk, to a pirouetting coat stand twirling with the objects it holds by New Delhi-based artist, Khyati Trehan.
Each of our six digital creations were then housed in an immersive exhibition reshaping the window display and entry way of The Conran Shop. Curated to sit next to the original pieces which inspired these never-before-seen virtual objects, the exhibition aimed to facilitate thought-provoking discussions on the future of design in an increasingly digital world.
This narrative was further explored in a series of editorial pieces published on It’s Nice That. Over two long form features, we engaged with our audience on the much-discussed topic of the Metaverse, as well as behind-the-scenes details into how our artworks were made.
To further engage with creatives unable to travel to London for the exhibition itself, we developed a social campaign to connect with global audiences. To offer viewers a similar sensation to visiting our Meet Me in the Metaverse installation we commissioned another of our contributors, Chris Golden and Christie Christie, to develop a face filter emulating the visual effect of the installation, The Conran Shop Future Gaze AR.
And to celebrate the launch of our collaboration and as part of the London Design Festival festivities, we hosted a party at The Conran Shop Chelsea. With over 2,000 people registering their attendance, it was a great opportunity for all to meet in the Metaverse and discover the digital possibilities of this realm.
AR filter by Chris & Christie
- Total campaign reach of 1.9 million people on It’s Nice That
- Over 2 million impressions across all of It’s Nice That channels
- More than 26,000 campaign engagements
"It’s always a pleasure collaborating with the Conran Shop team. This time around the partnership felt special. Not only because it was a celebration of London Design Festival’s 20th anniversary, but together we were able to make a foray into a new realm where we married the physical and digital in a unique and exciting way. The strength of the project hinged on a clear message about design’s position in the virtual world coupled with incredible work produced by world class artists." John Muleba, Creative Lead at It's Nice That.