Project 4
This client was located in a small shop in north Laguna, but space was becoming an issue. A unit opened up across the street that was a suitable upgrade. We were called in to retrofit the space which included design and construction of additional case work. The rear of the unit was to be the manufacturing area.
The project commenced with painting, lighting and flooring. A mobile partition wall was created in the main gallery area, that would hide the office area and safe. That wall and the wall behind was wallpapered with an amazing high quality paper. The new cases were constructed and wired in along with the existing cases from the old gallery. One big unit took four people to dolly it around from one side of the street to the other, using the nearby crosswalk. (Laguna Beach has strict Jay Walking laws) .
After the main showroom was complete, the fine art jewelry gallery was officially opened by a grand opening party, with an excellent turnout.
Then the focus was on outfitting the back-end manufacturing area. Installing new electrical, compressed air, machinery, work benches and shelving. Utilizing every square inch for production that would be required to supply that location and the other new location about to be started. The San Francisco gallery.
Although there was an unrealistic time line for project completion, (No one likes down time in retail) thing proceeded as well as could have been expected. Lessons learned by the client. Be careful which, and how many "designer" friends you get involved in your project. A disagreement over wall color between client and friends, set the project back three weeks, missing an open time window we had allocated to this gallery. This also caused hold-ups on the San Francisco project. The client had the vision and his assistant was an excellent designer, no one else should have been consulted at that point. Tip: If you do not see a vision of the completed project in your head, employ a real designer to assist. You will save time and money in the long run.