The DNA of a brand

At Matter we encourage the exchange of ideas between design professionals. On this occasion we did so with the retail workshop ‘The DNA of a brand’, led by the architect Marco Ferrari, co-founder of Estudio Montevideo, and organised in collaboration with the Retail Design Institute Spain (RDI Spain).

Over the course of a morning, a group of interior design studios worked in our Materioteca on a question that underlies any retail project: how to translate a brand's identity into a space. In this article we look at the approach of the workshop, its working method —from concept to moodboard— and who took part.

RETAIL WORKSHOP: El gen de una marca0:30

Two exercises, two teams: how brand identity was explored

A hands-on workshop, in teams and with real cases.

Participants worked on strategies for approaching retail projects through two specific exercises. They formed two working teams, each with its own project, with a common goal: to convey the soul of the brand. The concepts were materialised in moodboards and images of each project's look and feel.

The exercise went through several phases, exploring each aspect in order to capture the essence of each project:

• Conceptualisation: defining the starting idea for the project and the brand.
• Intentions and emotions: specifying what the space should convey.
• Look and feel: translating those concepts into moodboards and images that sum up the atmosphere of the project.

It was a dynamic, collaborative workshop in which the participating studios worked as a team and shared ways of working and perspectives on the same brief.

From concept to moodboard: materials as a brand language

Real samples to tell the story of each project.

The co-created moodboards combined different materials from our Materioteca to express the particular identity of each project. It was rewarding to see how the shared ideas merged to build joint concepts capable of conveying the story of the project each team was working on.

Working with physical samples, and not just images, forces early decisions on textures, colours and finishes, and makes it possible to check how they relate to one another before taking them into the project. It is the same logic with which we support studios in selecting materials for their retail spaces.

The speaker: Marco Ferrari, of Estudio Montevideo

Marco Ferrari is an architect and co-founder, together with Gabriela Jagodnik and Ramiro Veiga, of Estudio Montevideo, a retail architecture and interior design studio that originated in Córdoba (Argentina). According to the studio's own timeline, it began operating in 2014 and opened offices in Madrid in 2019, in Buenos Aires in 2021 and in Miami in 2023.

Its portfolio focuses on commercial spaces —restaurants, shops, supermarkets, shopping arcades and offices— in Argentina, Spain and other countries, and the studio also works on the brand identity of its projects. It was this experience of turning a brand into a space that he brought to the workshop.

With the Retail Design Institute Spain

The workshop was organised in collaboration with the Retail Design Institute Spain (RDI Spain), the Spanish chapter of the Retail Design Institute, an international non-profit association founded in the United States in 1961 that brings together creative professionals in retail design.

With RDI Spain we have organised other retail design events at Matter, such as the Workshop Retail Trends, devoted to visual merchandising, and the Light and Materiality workshop, on lighting for retail spaces.

Participating studios

The following interior design studios took part in the workshop:

• Nieves Serra.
• Elena Castells Poch.
• Teresa Cabaní.
• Elba Danel Studio.
• Genialidades.
• Marco Ferrari (Estudio Montevideo), as speaker.

This workshop was not only a reflection on, and application of, design strategies, but also an opportunity to explore the creative diversity of each studio and the value of collaborative work.

We would like to thank all the participants for their valuable contribution to this creative process. Each studio brought its own perspective and enriched the experience for everyone.