We’ve been a member of and accredited by Made in Britain for a number of years now and it’s had a really positive impact on our business. However, in reality, we’ve been producing British made products and solutions for nearly 40 years from our 25,000 sq ft converted weavers shed, steeped in British Heritage.
With more than 20 years of lighting experience, TCP are a lighting developer and manufacturer with a comprehensive product range that is used daily across the globe. Whilst they are mainly known for their work commercially, providing lighting solutions for businesses, brands, retail settings and much more, their products are also readily available to the consumer via strategic partnerships with well-known retailers. Over the past 2 years, we have established a relationship with TCP, working together to develop a range of simple but effective point of purchase and merchandising solutions for their products. Most recently, we completed a large roll-out of lighting display units for their new range of vintage bulbs for 315 Wilko stores. The displays showcase how effective bulbs can be in the right environment and with the illumination in store they really make a statement and draw customers in.
Steeped in history, Norman Piette is one of the oldest builders’ and timber merchants in the British Isles dating back to 1740, and thanks to its success are now the largest within the Bailiwick of Guernsey, supplying materials for much of the recent development of St Peter Port and meeting the demands for public buildings and social housing across the isles.
We’ve had the pleasure of working with Norman Piette on a number of occasions now, on a range of exciting jobs, from one-off projects like their sales area counter and most recently, a full store transformation that included format development, design, manufacture and installation, along with playing a part in outlining best practises for SKU placement and branding opportunities throughout the branch.
On this project, it was important that we maintained the brands look and feel, whilst creating a space that is easy to navigate, engaging and inviting.
Over the years we’ve developed a great working partnership with Norman Piette and the NP group of companies we continue to support their growth as they develop their trade areas and brand partnerships in-store.
With over 240 stores nationwide, Dulux Decorator Centres are the beating heart of the nation’s trade decorators. We’ve been working with DDC for a number of years on a wide array of projects from full store original design and manufacture, to point of purchase display roll-outs, and more recently a wide installation of protective screens and collection lockers to support the business during the pandemic.
The bespoke collection lockers for Dulux Decorator Centres have been designed to hold trade paints in a variety of sizes and each of the lockers also features a built-in cleanup pack and specially designed shelves with stacking plates to avoid any damage to the products.
We’ve now successfully rolled out over 150 bespoke, branded collection lockers to DDC’s across the UK and the feedback has been excellent from staff and customers. We’re also delighted to have been approached by other brands on the collection lockers too and have recently started work on new shapes and sizes to suit the individual needs of other trade centres.
The collection lockers have been designed and manufactured in house here at Ripple, and they’re really allowing retailers to add a new level of flexibility to the way that their customers collect their orders, at a time to suit them.
The Heritage brand of paints is a part of the AkzoNobel Group, alongside Dulux, Cuprinol, Polyfill and many more, crafted by Dulux professionals and industry innovators, the range is considered to be the perfect mix of traditional and modern design. “A timeless, luxury colour palette that meets the demands of busy, modern life.” When the brand launched, Ripple was approached to technically design, develop and manufacture a rollout of feature, Heritage display units for 199 select decorators merchants. The product, known as the “Heritage Spinner” was a great display for our Technical Designers to work on and really showcased their skills. The concept came from V2 Studios, a strategic design consultancy with who we’ve collaborated on a number of projects now, and it was up to our Technical team to take this concept and realise it for manufacture. The process included specifying various materials, construction, fixing methods and finishing to achieve the desired result. Once complete, the detailed technical drawings and blueprints were sent to our in-house manufacturing facility for prototyping and testing, before the final rollout began.
The Engine Shed is Scotland’s building conservation centre. Created and managed by Historic Environment Scotland (HES), it promotes engagement with traditional buildings and educates people about the skills and materials required to build, conserve and maintain them. The beautifully restored, redundant MOD railway building (engine shed) was refurbished in 2019 with 2 new wings added and Ripple was asked to design, manufacture and install their retail area; a unique project with a contemporary reflection of the industrial era complimenting the outstanding conservation efforts of the existing building. Aside from the manufacturing and installation of this project, a great deal of emphasis was put on the design for the manufacturing process. Our Technical Design team took the approved concepts from the architects and agencies involved and worked hard to realise exactly how the products could be manufactured, considering materials such as Cold Rolled Blackened Steel (CR4) with lacquered finish to offer an industrial look and feel. These expertly finalised designs then headed into our in-house manufacturing facility where the design team continued their involvement to oversee the detailed production and on-site installation.
Graham & Brown, who are known across the world for their long-standing heritage and groundbreaking innovation in premium wall coverings have been working in partnership with Ripple for a number of years. We’ve been helping to drive their innovative spirit in developing new and exciting ways to display their range of products in both a retail and trade setting.
One of our most recent and ongoing projects is this impressive combination of units, which are being installed in specialist and independent decorator centres across the UK, the largest unit spanning 2 metres and showcasing a combination of complementary paint and paper samples.
The style of the unit, designed by our internal team was aimed to mimic a home-style cabinet, allowing the customer to visualise how the samples would suit a household. The lighting on the unit can also be adjusted by the customer for either cool or warm settings, so they can really get a feel for how their choices will look in their own home.
To date, we’ve rolled out different combinations of this kit to over 20 retailers and trade centres across the country, with more and more coming on board every month.
Back in April, we wrote about how due to the pandemic and the subsequent meteoric rise of online shopping, if retail is to exist, there needs to be a reason to visit.
Known across the world, Thierry Mugler is an iconic, luxury perfume brand and part of the Clarins Group fragrance division, which was recently acquired by L’Oreal in early 2020.
Back in 2019, we were approached by the Clarins Group to develop a freestanding display solution in collaboration with the high street beauty retailer, Boots.
The brief focussed on a refill fountain, promoting a sustainable method for customers to replenish the infamous Alien and Angel fragrances into exquisite, reusable perfume bottles. An amazing project for us to be a part of!
The Clarins Group had previously trialled several countertop fountains, and from the success of their campaign along with sustainability creating new purchasing habits among consumers, they wanted to explore a larger, freestanding fountain to take pride of place in Boots Fragrance departments, nationwide.
The research, development and design phases were a significant part of the evolution of the display, with our creative and technical teams creating a selection of exciting sketch and 3D visual concepts.
Due to lock down and the subsequent closure of retail, the project was unfortunately put on hold for the best part of a year, however, we were delighted when in late 2020 the project was kick-started again!
We took the final design and completed technical specification and prototypes, we then manufactured 150 Fountain displays; fabricated in steel with chrome tubing and refill pods, with laser cut accent pieces for the drip tray and a high gloss black powder coat for a premium finish.
Our creative team also worked very closely to produce the artwork for the mag panels on the sides of the display, adhering completely to the Mugler brand guidelines, this also gave us an opportunity showcase our graphic design expertise.
This project is hands down one of our favourite display projects that we’ve had the pleasure to work on, it was a full end-to-end process from us, all the way from concepts and design to manufacturing and distribution. It required us to showcase the very best that we can achieve on all fronts, and it was a pleasure working with such an iconic brand.
The 150 units are now available to use in a selection of Boots stores across the UK.
Back in 2019 and after years of hard work and rigorous assessment we were awarded the prestigious Investors in People Gold Award. It’s a massive achievement for any business to be accredited with Investors in People, never mind the gold standard, but what exactly does that mean and how does it affect you, the customer?
