The best new innovations and inventions to incorporate into your retail interiors

Just like everything else in this world, technology is changing the retail design game – in wonderful ways.

Here are a few of our favourite practical and beautiful technologies to keep an eye on and incorporate into cutting-edge retail designs.

3d printed architecture

3d-printing allows designers to design, prototype and build architectural and design elements that never would have been possible before – at very accessible costs.

3d printing technology already allows designers to explore materials as diverse as metals, elastics and even sweets in addition to plastics. We can’t wait to see where this technology will take us next.

Below is a video of one of the largest current 3d-printed architectural design installations.

At Backline Interiors, we have our own in-house 3d printing and prototyping facilities where we can design prototype point of sale displays and print and manufacture module 3d-printed installations for our customers.

Water reactive materials

Designer Chao Chen has designed an innovative water-reactive pine based material for interior and architectural applications.

The material ‘breathes’ by contracting and expanding into different formations when exposed to different levels of moisture in the air.

The results are extraordinarily beautiful and the practical and aesthetic applications of the product are endless.

We can’t wait to see this applied in a retail environment. It will definitely give the ‘wow’s factor to an upmarket store design.

Transparent wood

Scientists have developed a way to treat wood to make it both transparent and more study that natural wood.

As designers we are delighted at the many possible applications of see-through natural gain wood – for windows, lighting, design features and more.

Lok out for this one, we predict it’s going to be big.