Louise and her team has designed the chain stores new concept store

Today, Thursday, the optician chain store company Smarteyes opens their new concept store in Stockholm. The design is made by the Växjö based company Plym Projekt with Louise Plym in charge.

– This is a really fun pilot project and a receipt for us that we can concur with be big design companies in Stockholm.

An easy and relaxed environment with a lounge feeling greets the visitors when Smarteyes is opening their new concept store. In a 300m2 local on Kungsgatan the customers can sit on the lounge sofas and try on their new glasses in a relaxed atmosphere.

– The register is shaped like a bar counter where you can hang out in a relaxed environment, Louise says, exactly like when we come in for the interview and Louise is trying to get all the interior details ready for the opening on Thursday.

– Yes, now we’re on the final stages. It’s been many long days and evenings, but we’ve worked in a structured way and everything has went as planned so far. But of course everyone is a bit nervous right before the opening. Then a feeling of relief and satisfaction probably will appear.

Louise can best be described as a genuine entrepreneur with creativity running in her blood. Her passion is a powerful driving force in her company, which she started at the early age of 18.

– I couldn’t get a work for the summer. In pure rage a decided to start a company. The result is Campingkul, a packed schedule with fun events and shows for children on tour for camp sites in Sweden. That company has grown big and is now covering all of Sweden and is close to heart for me.

After school was finished Louise went for university competence in industrial design, sustainable development and store communication. After that she worked abroad for IKEA with planning new market establishments through designing new IKEA stores and head offices. But after a couple of years as an employee she felt that it was time to do something of her own.

– In the fall of 2015 I started the company Plym Projekt. Now, 3,5 years later we are five employees and have another 38 names on the pay roll.

The company has three legs to stand on; events, education and design. Regarding the last one Louise has been a part of designing big projects both locally and international.

– Here in Växjö we’ve designed many key parts of ICON. Nationally we’ve created Svenssons I Lammhult’s new concepts stores, parts of Spotifys head office and the head office for product development for IKEA of Sweden in Älmhult. On the international side we’ve designed offices in for example China and Vietnam.

But for the last couple of months Smarteyes has been in the spotlight.

– In the start of June, we made a pitch in Smarteyes head office in Gothenburg. It was us against three design giants!

And you won, what made the difference?

– We collaborate with the architect and concept developer Lotta Hahn and the engineer Ola Holmerin at Koola Butiker. That collaboration makes us have a good flow and completeness from the design idea all the way to construction and implementation.

Smarteyes took the offer, and after months of hard work and hush-hush the public can now take part of the result when the store re-opens this Thursday.

– Everyone seems pleased with the result. We managed to create a warm, friendly and relaxed atmosphere where we particularly managed to put the Scandinavian light in focus.

Something that stands out a little extra in the concept store is the examination rooms that is placed in the middle of the store like stand-alone mirror cubes.

Louise points out several benefits with this design.

– Usually, the examination rooms are hidden in the back of the store, but here they are very visible whilst at the same time the privacy in the examination rooms are kept. The spy glass with its light reflection is also beneficial when you’re trying on glasses.

The design assignment for Smarteyes will of course be a great reference for Plym Projekts further expansion.

– Yes, this is a milestone for us. With the Smarteyes project we really shown that we can compete with the bigger national design companies.