product development showrooms
breif
Design, build, and style seasonal showrooms at Z Gallerie's Berkeley corporate headquarters, constructing interior walls and architectural elements to create distinct room environments that presented both carryover core assortment and new furniture alongside pillows, rugs, art, lighting, and decor for cross-functional team review and seasonal planning.
problem
Without a dedicated, fully styled showroom environment, merchant, inventory, and creative teams had no shared physical reference point for evaluating how new and carryover product would work together, making it difficult to align on seasonal direction, identify assortment gaps, or build conviction around bold new product bets before committing to buys.
design intent
Build out a series of immersive, aesthetically distinct room vignettes, from a dramatic black and white salon living room and a jewel-toned bedroom to soft blush decor displays and a dark moody lounge setting, using custom-built walls, curated wallcovering, and intentional product placement to give teams a true sense of how each aesthetic would translate to the sales floor.
insight
Home furnishing merchants and creatives make stronger, faster seasonal decisions when product is shown in context alongside complementary categories, because a well-styled showroom reveals the emotional story of an assortment in a way that a spreadsheet or product flat simply cannot.
outcome
The showrooms became the strategic nerve center for Z Gallerie's seasonal planning process, giving cross-functional teams a shared visual language and spatial reference that drove more confident assortment decisions, tighter product edits, and a clearer, more cohesive creative direction for future seasons.
