Interior Design School of Design
Jessie Orville
Jessie is a spatial designer focused on creating immersive, people-centered experiences that engage the senses and celebrate identity. With a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Marketing and an upcoming BA(Hons) in Interior Design from the Glasgow School of Art, she brings a unique perspective to the intersection of design and business—blending creativity and strategic thinking to reimagine what retail spaces can offer.
Her practice is rooted in social equity and inclusivity, shaped by her perspective as a queer French designer of Caribbean and Italian heritage. These lived experiences inform her commitment to creating environments that reflect and empower diverse communities — spaces where those often overlooked can feel fully seen.
Her current project, Shades, reimagines the beauty store as a space for confidence, culture, and connection.
Site
Shades is located at 158 Argyle Street.
As a central shopping destination, the site is surrounded by the Glasgow Central Station, the Saint Enoch Subway Station, carparks and bus stops, making it highly accessible.
The Category B-listed building is defined by its original angled southeast corner bay, which enhances visibility from a distance—one of the reasons it was chosen for this project. The curved windows, designed to honour the building’s 1926 heritage, gently guide visitors inside, blending historical character with contemporary intent. Inside, steel columns are coated in mycelium—a bio-skin that supports air purification and embodies a regenerative architectural approach.
Concept
A Space to See Yourself
A transformative beauty experience where mixed heritage is not an afterthought, but the foundation.
A retail journey designed to empower, reflect, and include—shifting beauty from product- centered to person-centered.
A Space for Belonging
Shades is more than a store. It is a space of identity discovery, designed for mixed-heritage individuals who often feel invisible in traditional beauty environments. Instead of simply offering products, Shades offers understanding—through personalised technology, inclusive services, and cultural storytelling. Rooted in the experience of being “in-between,” the design challenges the industry’s surface- level inclusivity and reimagines retail as a site for belonging. Each floor unfolds a new layer of identity: from discovering your shade to celebrating your roots.
Design Intent
I aim to:
GET mixed heritage individuals
WHO struggle to find the right products
TO feel confident, empowered, and educated
BY designing a personalised, inclusive retail experience.
What You’ll Find at Shades:
On-site services (hairdressers, beauty advisors with shared heritage) Advanced technologies (face scanners, magic mirrors)
A swatch system replacing cluttered shelves with tactile discovery Workshop spaces for community, education, and confidence building
Transforming Retail, Reclaiming Identity
The future of Shades is more than physical space — it is a model for what beauty retail can become when it listens, reflects, and responds. Through a blend of cultural storytelling, technology, and community, Shades becomes a prototype for an inclusive, experience-led industry.
The project’s layered output offers a vision that is both grounded and speculative. From detailed interior drawings to immersive branding and spatial storytelling, Shades balances the poetic with the practical — a tactile narrative that can travel across cities and evolve into a global brand.
This is not just a store, but a statement: Mixed heritage deserves visibility. Personal beauty deserves discovery.
And design has the power to build belonging.
Layers
Each floor represents a distinct layer of identity, reflecting the multifaceted nature of human, especially mixed-heritage, experiences. Though each layer differs in materiality, colours, and scents, they are unified by a consistent playlist and the presence of brass.
The brass staircase connects all levels and appears in subtle details throughout. As an alloy of two metals, brass symbolizes the blending of mixed heritage.
Discover
The ground floor, named Discover, is where customers begin their journey by uncovering their unique skin and hair needs while exploring what Shades has to offer.
Soft peach-pink tones and a calming cotton-inspired scent create a welcoming atmosphere. A mini lounge provides space to speak with staff about personal needs, while magic mirrors and face scanners assist in identifying complexion and hair concerns. Swatch cards with skin-like textures support accurate shade matching.
After browsing, customers can check out at the cash desk, where a product mini lift system delivers items efficiently from storage. An additional reception desk, tucked beneath the staircase, helps direct customers to services and appointments on the upper floors.
The space is welcoming, inclusive, and designed for smooth navigation.
‘Find Your Shade’ Wall Detail
The swatch card wall allows visitors to find their exact skin tone match by selecting textured paper cards, arranged by shade and undertone in a tactile, gradient display. It displays 90 shades across three undertones and 30 skin depths, repeated vertically for accessibility. Extra cards on the upper and outer edges maintain visual balance.
Shade Reflection
The magic mirrors, suspended delicately from the ceiling, activate through touch to scan and analyze each user’s skin tone and undertone using AR technology. Flowing fabric partitions— light curtains that drift between and behind the mirrors—enhance the sense of privacy and softness within the space. This textile installation draws inspiration from Soft Measures by Kapwani Kiwanga, whose work explores themes of colonial legacies, gender, and diaspora. The mirrors, framed by these gentle veils, invite moments of quiet introspection and recognition, allowing each individual to engage with their reflection in a way that is both personal and quietly radical.
Sculpt
The first floor, “Sculpt,” immerses visitors in the world of makeup, offering an extensive range of shades through a variety of testers. Smart mirrors in the central testing stations allow customers to experiment physically or digitally. The neutral beige palette highlights the products, and the design blends Japanese- inspired elements with Caribbean references and natural materials. With a focus on inclusivity, the floor features numerous testers and ensures a plentiful stock in the back, guaranteeing that every shade is always available.
The Claudia collection is named in honour of Claudia Jones, the Trinidad and Tobago-born Caribbean activist, journalist, and founder of Notting Hill Carnival, who gave voice to the Windrush generation and fought for justice, culture, and dignity. Like her work, this furniture trilogy holds memory through form : each piece a tribute to journey, identity, and the quiet strength of Caribbean heritage.
The first piece, Peyi Mwen, honours Caribbean roots through island landscapes and traditional craft.
The second piece, Traversée, captures the migration journey, inspired by Windrush-era ocean liners.
The third piece, Arrival, reflects adaptation, with modular suitcase forms echoing the evolving identity of immigrants.
The tables, inspired by traditional Caribbean craft, evoke memories carried through generations—now finding form within the shop.
Nourish
The second floor, ‘Nourish,’ envelops visitors in a warm, brown- themed ambiance that celebrates hair in all its diversity. A wide range of products and tools—such as combs, brushes, and accessories— ensures inclusivity for every hair type. This commitment is echoed in the materials and forms, inspired by curls, braids, and textures. Beyond representation, the space offers education and personalization: a rod-mounted wall of small display cubes introduces visitors to the benefits of various herbs, while a custom oil bar allows them to create treatments tailored to their unique hair needs.
Herbal Cubes, Hair Education
These sealed glass cubes showcase individual herbs known for their natural benefits in hair care traditions from around the world. Each cube contains a preserved plant—such as hibiscus, fenugreek, or rosemary—accompanied by a clear description of its properties and purpose. The display invites visitors to learn which herbs align with their specific hair needs, from fine to coily textures, offering guidance rooted in ancestral knowledge and holistic care.
This educational moment reconnects individuals with nature’s role in everyday rituals of nourishment and self-respect.
Blend
The third floor, ‘Blend,’ is a celebration of cultural exchange, community, and creativity. Warm terracotta tones and natural materials set the mood for workshopsandsharedexperiences. At the heart of the floor is a global tea bar, where visitors can pause and connect over teas from around the world. A continuous bespoke banquette wraps around the space, encouraging conviviality while keeping the center open for modular use. This central zone transforms into a catwalk during events promoting new beauty products, offering visibility through curated gatherings with influencers and creatives.During these moments, the back workshop becomes a backstage prep area, reinforcing the blend of performance, craft, and culture.
To Know, To Care
The workshop offers guidance on how to care for different hair types, whether for personal confidence,parental learning, or professional development. Open to anyone—from individuals exploring their own routine to parents of children with different textures, and stylists seeking a more inclusive practice—it provides practical knowledge in an approachable setting.
During events, the space doubles as a backstage area for catwalks hosted in the tea bar, where makeup and hair looks are showcased in collaboration with artists. A discreet in-store camera documents moments from these workshops and events, supporting marketing while also raising awareness around hair acceptance and representation.
Elevate
An exclusive, appointment-only space designed for rest, ritual, and reflection. The VIP suite offers a private setting where guests can prepare, unwind, or receive tailored services in comfort. From its deep burgundy palette to its curated layout, every element evokes intimacy and self-celebration. The space reinterprets codes of luxury through a multicultural lens— quietly asserting that visibility and beauty rituals belong to everyone.
Architecture of Belonging
The suite flows like a private flat, blending a styling area with a lounge and minibar. During exclusive events, it becomes a space for shared preparation—whether for a shoot, a celebration, or a moment of pause. On top of attentive staff, an Elever mirror by Seymourpowell—using facial recognition and 3D spray technology to replicate makeup looks—quietly supports these rituals of self- expression. The large-scale fresco was created from an original photoshoot organized for Shades, featuring individuals from diverse backgrounds. Digitally reworked into a Renaissance- inspired composition, it celebrates the architecture of the building, echoing its classical proportions and cornicing details. POC subjects take central place, reimagining historical portraiture through a lens of visibility, heritage, and care. Here, luxury is quiet, personal, and rooted in cultural reclamation.
Bespoke Furniture
The Lina Station
(Named after Lina Iris Viktor – an artist whose work gilds identity, honouring the sacred in everyday Black beauty)
There’s a pause here—a brief, golden stillness before the product arrives. Time stretches just enough for admiration, and then contracts, handing you what’s yours.
Function: A layered, sculptural cash desk integrated with a product lift system. While you wait, the softly lit shelf display slows you down— inviting admiration before the handover. The counter’s front reveals layered contours, highlighted by an LED glow that nods to skin tone depth and the language of complexion. Leather-inlay handles offer a tactile surprise for staff—a quiet gesture of care, because at Shades, beauty belongs to everyone, including those behind the counter.
The Melba Spine
(Named after Melba Tolliver – the African-American journalist who, in 1971, refused to cover her Afro with a wig or scarf on national TV, becoming a quiet pioneer for Black hair visibility and equality)
The brass spine doesn’t divide—it distinguishes. Hammered, ridged, brushed—each texture speaks its own truth. Like Melba, it stands tall, refusing to hide what’s natural, beautiful, and proud.
Function: A sculptural shelving unit on the left side of the second floor, displaying hair products organised by texture. Its central spine features three brass finishes: hammered for curls, ridged for waves, and brushed for straight hair. More than a display, it’s a statement— celebrating hair as identity, choice, and strength.
The Noor Shelf
(Named after Noor Inayat Khan – a woman who lived in many layers,
never one thing at once)
The shelf curves like a curl—natural, confident, and unapologetic. It doesn’t shout for attention, but it holds it. As you queue, you trace its shape, like you’d trace a strand between your fingers—slowly, with care.
Function: Positioned on the second floor—Shades’ dedicated hair space—this sculptural S-shaped shelf nods to both the brand’s name and the natural curl pattern of textured hair. It guides flow subtly while displaying hair styling products. The shelf invites a quiet moment of recognition: of form, beauty, and identity. Its travertine- inspired columns anchor each curve, echoing the strength behind softness.
The Doreen Banquette
(Named after Doreen Lawrence – a British community advocate and mother of Stephen Lawrence, who turned personal tragedy into collective action, fighting for justice, equity, and the dignity of Black lives in public space.)
This seat curves like conversation. It holds many at once, without asking them to be the same. You settle into its shape like you’ve al- ways belonged—because you have.
Function: A continuous, wall-fixed banquette that follows the arc of the third-floor arched windows, where the tea bar invites rest and reflection. Designed for shared moments, it’s grounded in dark wood and softened by textured upholstery. The banquette embod- ies Shades’ belief that beauty is also found in how we gather—and how we hold space for one another.
The Audre Bar
(Named after Audre Lorde – writer, thinker, and traveller of thought who spoke of difference as strength and ritual as resistance)
It stretches like a train carriage—steady, rooted, in motion. The vertical rods rise like rhythm and rail, holding stories that crossed borders in steam and silence. Here, tea is more than a drink—it’s a journey remembered in warmth.
Function: A dark wood tea bar on the third floor, shaped like a train wagon in structure and spirit. Vertical rods rise from the countertop to a ceiling frame that mirrors its form, evoking the motion and rhythm of historical train interiors. At the front, twin bands of carved wood frame a line of terracotta tiles—a quiet reference to the warmth of shared tradition. The bar offers a space to pause andreflect, a subtle continuation of the Claudia Collection’s narrative of migration and cultural layering—where the journey is honoured not through spectacle, but through stillness and care.
Branding
The identity of Shades is built on depth—of colour, of culture, and of care. Every element, from the bespoke logo to the bottle design, reflects a commitment to celebrating nuance rather than flattening it. The marketing campaign was shaped through an original photoshoot that placed real people, real tones, and real textures at the centre—avoiding stereotypes in favour of sincerity. These images, like the brand itself, express a quiet confidence: rooted in culture, inclusive by design, and unafraid to take up space.
The Shades Brand Model
This project was not only conceived to design a single store, but to propose a model—a flexible brand framework that can adapt to different buildings, cities, and communities. Curved, organic forms run through its spatial language, symbolising softness, movement, and inclusivity. These flowing lines, paired with a commitment to shade-based design, create a spatial and visual rhythm that defines Shades wherever it goes. This is not just a store—it’s a brand system: globally relevant, locally rooted, and purposefully designed for growth.
