Gradmann 1864 Parfümerie

Almost 150 years after the foundation of it’s first store in Konstanz, Gradmann 1864 Parfümerie is more successful than ever. The secret: class instead of mass. Every branch between Esslingen and Bodensee has a unique individual character and a typical familiar supply, by which Gradmann clearly differs from most of it’s competitors. A fine example is the recent opening of the 13th Gradmann-store in Tuttlingen, that besides a perfume department, accommodates a beauty salon and a nail studio.

Architect Marius Wolak, already responsible for the design of two other Gradmann-stores, took care of the Tuttlingen-branche as well. “It’s an old monumental corner property, consisting out of two floors. One of the things I’ve noticed right away was the lack of daylight within the building. By installing large windowpanes I’ve tried to transfer as much daylight as possible to the inside of the store. Starting from this environmental point of view I developed a light plan, in the course of which I finally found the perfect and most sustainable solution: LED.”

Because Wolak never worked with LED before, he contacted Dawid Rybicki, managing director of Lux Light Company, Original Equipment Manufacturer of Philips Lighting. “For us this was the first time we helped installing a complete LED-light concept from the basement to the top floor, running on one overall system”, Rybicki explains. “Besides that we were in the lucky circumstance we might combine the most beautiful, newest and best lighting systems out of the Philips-collection, such as the LEXEL DLM, Fortimo DLM and Fortimo SLM and the ColourChaser.” Wolak adds: “The countless white light variations of LEXEL combined with Fortimo provides constantly a totally different intensity, which works perfectly in a store where colours and different activities are geared to one another. Moreover LEXEL is very well suited for the direct and Fortimo for the indirect illumination of the store. This, in addition to the many rectangular corner shelves and the round show cases in the middle of the store, make a visit to Gradmann a real happening.”

“One of the most important benefits is the long life cycle of LED compared to conventional light solutions”, Wolak says. “Therefore replacement costs will decrease substantially. In the long term I expect a power reduction as well. Also worthwhile mentioning is the fact that the current solution contains about 6 million different settings, which makes it possible to vary endlessly with all kinds of white colour ranges.” Rybicki: “The Gradmann-store in Tuttlingen is the first shop for miles around where LED has been installed as a total concept, and by doing so pre-eminently a wonderful project. For the management and employees of Gradmann, and for us as well!”