First Apple Store designed by Jony Ive shows future retail direction

A new Apple store designed by Jony Ive just opened up in Brussels. It’s noticeably different aesthetic and a glimpse of the future of Apple’s retail hubs around the world.

Belgian Site ANV attended the launch to provide a glimpse of the new design direction.

The Brussels store features a lot more wood than your typical Apple store. Most notably, there is an entire line of trees – something we’re not used to seeing in Apple stores at all (I’ve never seen plants in any of the multiple New York-Area stores).

There are also wooden benches for people waiting on their Genius Bar appointments, and accessories are housed in wooden shelves that both highlight products and hide some packaging clutter behind a wall.

There are also less of the large backlit photos we’re used to seeing strewn around the shops. Instead, the store houses a large screen that could be used to highlight a variety of different products.

While we don’t have an in-house architect or interior designer at TNW, the trees and benches help if feel more like a cool place to hang out rather than just somewhere to burn a hole through your wallet or get help on your broken iPhone screen.

Ive took on larger overarching design role within the company back in May when he was promoted from Senior Vice President of Design to the newly minted Chief Design Officer job; two trusted advisors took on his previous roles as vice president of user design and industrial design.

The new position did not mean Ive would be less involved in the look of Apple’s hardware and software, it did free up time spent on managerial duties so he could focus on other aspect’s of the company’s design, including Apple’s new Cupertino campus and the aforementioned Apple stores.

It’s easy to think these changes could be limited to a single outlet, but Apple store interiors tend to maintain a consistent feel.

Moreover, previous reports have indicated Apple stores would go through a design refresh after Ive took over – so extensive that Apple allegedly began co-designing packaging for third-party accessories.

Head on over to ANV at the source link below for more images of what future Apple Stores may look like.

➤ ANV (Belgian) via 9to5Mac

Image credits: ANV