Haldane Martin Designs New Wolf & Maiden Store

Haldane Martin has designed a new interior concept store for Wolf & Maiden at the V&A Waterfront to showcase the handcrafted leather goods of the South African product design brand. The retail space is a visual capsule that breathes life into Wolf & Maiden’s ethos of “the future of legacies past” while making the high-end design products the hero.

The design concept is crafted around the moon – closely associated with the wolf, or “moon dog” – set in a colour palette of the night sky. The focal point of the store is three moon-like illuminated brass rings encircling the product. Embedded with warm LED striplights the solid brass rings create a halo effect around each bag on display. Creating an optical illusion, the LED crescents change in size across the circular plane as the viewer moves, mimicking the waxing and waning of the moon, and adding a sense of mystery that ties into the Wolf & Maiden brand. The dark blue background is the complementary opposite of the rich warm leather products. It was created with blue dyed leather timber and blue stained chevron flooring and wall cladding, alongside blue travel icon wallpaper designed by Merwe Marchand Le Roux of Rodeo Productions as a monoprint for some of the luggage lining. Polished brass highlights the traditional brass hardware of the product and reinforces the quality and attention to detail. Leather strip curtains beneath shelves made from solid brass flat bar frames are a novel way of concealing stock storage below the merchandising display, while further celebrating Wolf & Maiden’s mastery of leather craft. Two brass standing display units on wheels designed using art deco radiused geometry are reminiscent of the romantic era of travel – a time when quality leather luggage was designed to last a lifetime.

For the customer meandering by this unique display in a small and striking concept space creates a point of difference in the mall that will draw them in. Attention to detail and quality materials in the visual merchandising speaks to the legacy and exclusivity of the product. Concept design is used to embellish the brand’s narrative – inherent in the name – of story with a sense of the magical. The overall space is a capsule of the brand’s identity, showcasing its heritage and handcrafted design aesthetic in a style that is both nostalgic and modern-day. View online: haldanemartin.co.za/designs/wolf-maiden