Ruth’s Lingerie Holiday Window Installation
In partnership with Artists’ Exchange and RISD, each store along Rolfe Square commissioned a unique holiday window installation to celebrate the winter holidays. Located in Cranston, Rhode Island, this store has been lovingly serving its community for over half a century. Ruth’s Lingerie at 44 Rolfe Sq sat at the corner of Rolfe Sq. and Auburn Street with triple the number of windows and storefront footprint compared to all the other stores on Rolfe Sq., tasking the team with a fun challenge to design on a simple budget.
Existing corner storefront
The owner, Carol Schwebel outside the finished holiday window installation.
BRAND and
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
The window installation design takes inspiration from the original Ruth’s lettering dating back to 1954 and ties in the winter holiday spirit with a modern interpretation of the beauty and lightness of the snowflake. Studying how the products and merchandise in the store are displayed, the installation would serve as a combined type of armature to showcase the products in a new light.
THREE TYPES OF FASTENERS
The unique design has endless possibilities for composition allowing this window installation to be repurposed year over year. Another factor of consideration throughout the design process at the request of Carol, the owner of Ruth’s, was storability — that the holiday installation design not take up too much room when stored away.
FABRICATION PROCESS
The material of choice for the fabrication landed on steel for its inherent strength to hold shape and structure despite the slenderness of the design. Each of the ‘R’ units had to be bent to the exact same angle with the help of custom-built jigs. The overall process included five steps: degreasing, sanding, bending, and lastly spray painting twice for a double-coat.
INSTALLATION DAY
HUGE kudos to the team and the incredible support of our RISD Digital Constructs professor, Hansy Better and the best fabricator in all of Rhode Island, lasercut extraordinaire Bud from Precision Laser! Thank you!
