Selfridges returns to its homely roots with Our House campaign

Selfridges has unveiled a new "Our House" campaign, including windows and in-store experience, that recalls founder Harry Gordon Selfridge's vision of his store as "The House".

Its iconic London store has teamed up with craft retailer The New Craftsmen to create "A Home For All" inside the store, which is a temporary conceptual house that encourages customers to review their understanding of what makes a house a home and invites them to take part in immersive experiences.

Expert makers and craftsmen including the Bristol Weaving Mill, ceramic artist Matthew Raw and food anthropologist and chef Susy Webb will guide shoppers through activities including potato peeling, bread making, fabric dying, spice grinding and loom weaving among others. All have been conceived to foster a sense of community and encourage participants to "unleash their imagination, creativity and inner-maker".

Phones and gadgets must be silent while in A Home For All to allow shoppers to fully connect with the experience and take time out from the outside world.

In addition the retailer has opened its version of the General Store at its Oxford Street and Manchester stores and online at selfridges.com. The General Stores will feature a pared back selection of goods for the home and will feature exclusive collaborations with Faye Toogood, Conran X Eames Foundation, Temperley, Loewe and Roksanda, with the latter two venturing into interior design for the first time.

The store's window displays support the new campaign and playfully recreate homely scenes illustrating such rituals as “Sleep”, “Tea making” or “Cleansing”.

Selfridges creative director Linda Hewson said the move had in part been inspired by the revival of the store's Silence Room in 2013, which was first created by Harry Gordon Selfridge back in 1909.

"[...] we were taken aback by the hugely positive engagement from our customers into the initiative. The Silence Room, in which no noise was allowed, was built to offer customers a haven away from the hustle and bustle of London, and life in general," she said.

"This time, with Our House, we are not recreating a Silence Room, but building a whole house made home for all our customers to interact in and find themselves reconciled with a pre-digital time when home rituals and making simple things well were the heart of life. With Our House, we are also reminding our customers that our founder designed Selfridges to be their home away from home where everyone is welcome," Hewson added.

Images: © copyright Matt Writtle 2017.