Calculus
c. 2016 — 2024
An alternative retail concept
Directional fashion store carrying Casey Casey, Evan Kinori, Forme D’Expression, Geoffrey B. Small, Guidi, Jan-Jan Van Essche, Werkstatt:München, and Rick Owens
Introduced Casey Casey, Evan Kinori, Geoffrey B. Small, and Jan-Jan Van Essche to the Canadian market
Featuring a custom ecommerce platform built on WordPress, and a hand-built appointment-only c.1903 Arts & Crafts showroom on Vancouver Island, Canada
The creative direction was an elegant evolution of elements introduced via re. porter - establishing brand identity and story via nomenclature, font, buying, and presentation
Featuring a distinctly clean aesthetic, the website and appoitment-only showroom were designed to mirror the typically all-white environments of Paris market week showrooms and galleries
These physical and digital spaces acted as blank canvases, providing minimal distraction from the intended focus - the collections contained within
The digital store was developed by the same collaborator from re. porter, rooted in the same principles of minimalism, albeit with an appreciable upgrade to media size and resolution
The physical showroom was renovated, finished, and refinished entirely on my own
Never having used, or so much as held, a hammer before, the result was a charmingly imperfect, and uniquely intimate space - echoing the wabi-sabi aesthetics of the garments contained within
Buying, styling, photography and photo-finishing - were again, all handled by myself
Growing frustrated with the lack of experienced models on the island, I decided to step in front of the camera as well - allowing me to inject the product photography with a measured dose of drama
Calculus was a project conceived, directed, and executed entirely by a singular person, with a singular vision - and was entirely singular as a result
Existing outside the traditional framework of brick and mortar shops, in a part of the world where such projects have no established history - it was a creative exercise executed with every possible freedom afforded it
712 Cormorant St
Calculus is the field of mathematics used to study systems in motion
As such, Calculus was conceived with a tacit commitment to change - or an admission to the inevitably of evolution
The designer list would grow every season, and after two years in the appointment-only showroom — Calculus opened a brick and mortar shop in Victoria’s downtown core
Creative direction and decision making began to reflect key aspects of the city’s culture - offering just enough familiarity to pique local interest, and adequate mystery to inspire individual discovery
As is the city’s wanted way, photography changed entirely to film, and collaborations with local photographers allowed for increased breadth of presentation — whether via editorial, web, or elevated social media publishing & engagement
Just as the showroom before it, the shop was renovated and refinished entirely by myself - repurposing pieces, parts, and fixtures from the original space to create bespoke furniture and furnishings
This corporeal form of Calculus also saw something of a softening with regards to the shop’s buying & direction; Bode, Camiel Fortgens, Engineered Garments, orSlow, and Paa were introduced — along with emerging sportswear heavyweights District Vision, SATISFY, and eventually norda
These changes, in conjunction with an in-house line of American made jersey and fleece basics — strengthened the shop’s local appeal, without sacrificing its global reputation as an uncompromising curator
The space played host to myriad underground events, including art exhibitions, album release parties, raves, private food & wine tastings, et al
By the time the world was about to be unexpectedly upended by a novel coronavirus, the store’s Instagram following had surpassed eleven thousand followers, and the mailing list comprised more than four thousand subscribers
