Many of our clients come to us with the idea of fixtures manufactured primarily out of wood for their restaurant or storefront. What they may be overlooking is the design and aesthetic opportunities that come with incorporating various metals into their fixtures. Steel, for example, is an extremely durable, long-lasting, and versatile material which when utilized properly can allow your fixtures to stand out amongst the competition.
At Showbest, we are proud to be one of the few fixture manufacturers that offers metal fabrication to our clients. This not only allows Showbest to be a “one-stop-shop” for our clients, but also allows for more design flexibility. Versatility is a major attraction for clients that don’t want the challenges of sourcing design materials from multiple manufacturers.
In this blog, we will share some of our favorite projects that incorporate large-scale metal fabrication and provide more details about the features behind our metalwork.
METAL FABRICATION IN COLLECTION DUTY FREE STORE – TORONTO, CANADA
One of the greatest advantages to using metal in design is its flexibility. Metal can be completely transformed depending on the finish being used. Finishes like stainless steel, chrome, powder-coated, plated (gold or brass), and mirror-polished can give any design that ‘high-end’ feel. In many ways, wood simply can’t achieve the same variety of shapes, textures, and finishes that metal can. This Airport retail display for Collections (above) features large chrome and custom steel outlined cases with glass paneling for a clean and sophisticated look. Using finishes like chrome for your display cases is a great way to assure customers that everything sold in the store is as high quality as the store design itself.
SUNGLASS HUT METAL CASE DESIGN MULTI-STATE ROLL OUT
A similar approach was taken for these floor-to-ceiling sunglass displays for Sunglass Hut in various airports across the country. Sunglass Hut partnered with our client Hudson Group, the largest airport retailer in the United States, to roll out Sunglass Hut products in airport stores. We worked with Hudson Group to develop wall and floor displays from their provided drawings.
Our floor displays feature multicolored steel shelves (white and black), steel tube frame, and custom lighting. The wall display is a custom tube frame as well with multicolor powder coated steel shelves and lighting, with back lit acrylic logos and a powder coated black metal mesh back panel. We are proud to have installed 50 displays around the country so far, the first being in Richmond.
The photo above shows how our finishes look before they are applied to the piece.
AMERICAN EAGLE INDUSTRIAL MODERN DISPLAY
Today, industrial-modern is a popular design style and this “finished raw materials” style is a great opportunity to incorporate different materials such as metal and wood together. If you’ve ever been to an American Eagle store, you’re familiar with their minimalist wood and metal design style. Looks simple, right? What’s exceptional about the creation of their displays is the synergy required for the integration of wood and metal together in one piece. The materials require completely different production processes, multi-phase machine programming, and additional engineering to ensure the combination of the two materials is seamless, stable, and beautiful.
Interested in incorporating metal fabrication into your store fixture designs? Showbest’s team of skilled craftspeople is ready to make your storefront or restaurant design come to life. Contact us to learn more.