Schiaparelli in six months, then Gucci followed.
Sessions before Schiaparelli called
Months from the first coffee to a haute couture runway
Directors, one direction
Colin and Tijs had the craft. The positioning did not yet say what made them different from every other spatial practice, and the calendar ran on client questions, from job to job. This work mapped the industry, named the competitors, defined the USP, set the North Star, and built the vocabulary the studio uses in every client conversation. Schiaparelli followed. So did Gucci.
Four disciplines. One standard of craft.
Architecture, interiors, fashion and live performance each get the same attention to light, atmosphere and making. A light fixture is treated as a sculptural element, so the rig itself becomes part of the design. That is why a couture house and a music festival brief the same studio.
The Recognition Test
If a creative director at a luxury house reads your positioning in thirty seconds, do they know immediately whether you are for them? If not, the work is not done yet.
A studio with strong craft and no sentence that explained why it was different from every other spatial practice.
Requests came in faster than the studio could choose between them. Two directors with new ambitions, expertise across disciplines, and a position that still read as one more creative studio.
Full positioning architecture.
Why, how and what before any website. A Lean Canvas for the studio and for its named competitors. Personas and a customer journey built on one question: how fast does an ideal client see the unfair advantage? Core values as a checklist for every image and every page. A five-step test to weigh each project on budget, strategic value and network. The website came back in-house, and the bio dropped 'creative studio' for a more grown-up position.
Designers, not installers.
With every brand commission came one rule: agree upfront what the studio may publish. A studio that cannot show its work becomes a production tool. Press release preparation, approval routes and a pitch deck turn each project into proof for the next one.
Positioning in place.
Schiaparelli in six months, followed by Gucci. Partnership ongoing.
