I then had to take a photo of myself to submit along with my business plan for this competition. I ended up taking a really boring one, but when I was trying to find one on my desktop, I stumbled across this one from an impromptu photo shoot that a friend and I did last year. Hilarious. The glasses are supposed to make me look smart. Ha!

In order to keep my sanity during these long days stuck in front of my laptop, I allow myself to take Google Reader breaks every now and then. In other words, I peruse through my favourite blogs and subject myself to a little eye candy.

Today, courtesy of the Trend Land blog, I stumbled across these images from the H&M Home Collection launch, designed by the H&M design team and UXUS.

The approach was to create a “gallery” of fun fashion home products which customers are encouraged to touch and explore.

H&M Home is a gallery/showroom using highly emotional product presentations, which verge on art, to encourage customers to engage with the brand.

The first installation, “Home Reflections” imagines the world through a looking glass, and explores our ever-changing relationship between identity and style. A combination of mirrors and suspended furniture creates an exhibition that reflects our eclectic taste of today.

I quite enjoy this and its’ abstract quality. Almost has an Alice in Wonderland topsy-turviness to it. I have a feeling the photos don’t do it justice, but it still gives you a sense of the environment. The spotlighting and shadows intermixing with the mirrors creates an interesting moody quality, which is nicely juxtaposed by the bright colours of the products, the intricate furniture detailing and the array of textures. It does make me want to explore.

What do you think… is this an effective way to merge art and design with home fashion products? Too abstract?