Lighting plays a defining role in how a retail space is experienced. At the Harriet Home flagship store on High Street, Armadale, lighting was treated not as an afterthought, but as a core architectural element—one that supports both the interior design vision and the practical demands of a premium retail environment. Delivered by About Space, the lighting design prioritises optimal lux levels, visual comfort and seamless integration, allowing Harriet Home’s curated product offering to take centre stage.

Harriet Home is known for its refined approach to interiors—layered, textural and thoughtfully composed. The challenge for the lighting design was to enhance this aesthetic without overpowering it, creating an environment that feels calm, elevated and intuitive for customers to move through. Architectural lighting was selected as the foundation, ensuring the space feels cohesive, balanced and effortlessly functional from entry to checkout.

Designing with Light, Not for It

The brief focused on achieving consistent, comfortable illumination across the store while subtly directing attention to product displays, joinery details and material finishes. Rather than relying on decorative fixtures, the lighting scheme uses recessed and integrated solutions to deliver clarity without visual clutter.

At the core of the design are Value and Sona downlights, chosen for their clean profiles, controlled beam angles and reliable output. These downlights establish a uniform ambient light layer throughout the store, ensuring optimal lux levels for retail browsing while maintaining a soft, welcoming atmosphere. High colour rendering was essential, allowing textiles, finishes and objects to appear true-to-tone under artificial light—critical in a design-led retail setting.

By carefully spacing and aligning the downlights with the architectural grid, the lighting becomes almost invisible, supporting the space rather than competing with it. This approach allows the interior palette—natural timbers, stone surfaces and curated product vignettes—to remain the hero.

Layering Light to Guide the Customer Journey

Beyond ambient illumination, layered lighting was used to shape the customer experience and guide movement through the store. Feature shelving, display joinery and architectural moments are enhanced with ASP Albus LED, an aluminium profile system designed for precision and flexibility. Integrated seamlessly into joinery, the Albus profiles provide a soft, even wash of light that highlights products without glare or harsh shadowing.

This subtle emphasis encourages customers to slow down, engage with displays and explore the space intuitively. The lighting gently signals hierarchy—what to notice first, where to linger—without the need for overt visual cues.

In areas requiring greater adaptability, Flexxy LED was introduced. Its flexible form allows light to be integrated into curved or custom joinery elements, maintaining consistency even in more complex architectural details. The result is a cohesive lighting language throughout the store, regardless of form or function.

Balancing Performance and Atmosphere

Retail lighting must work hard. It needs to meet strict functional requirements—adequate lux levels, energy efficiency, longevity—while also contributing to mood and brand identity. At Harriet Home, this balance was achieved through careful calibration of light temperature, output and placement.

Warm neutral colour temperatures were selected to complement the material palette and create an inviting ambience, while still delivering the clarity required for retail. Glare was minimised through recessed fittings and diffused profiles, ensuring visual comfort for customers and staff alike.

The outcome is a space that feels calm yet purposeful—bright enough to showcase products accurately, but warm enough to encourage customers to stay, browse and connect with the brand.

A Seamless Retail Experience

What sets this project apart is the restraint shown in the lighting design. By focusing on architectural solutions rather than statement fixtures, the lighting recedes into the background, allowing the store design and product curation to shine. This creates a seamless retail experience where lighting, interior architecture and brand identity are perfectly aligned.

The Harriet Home flagship is a clear example of how thoughtful lighting design can elevate retail environments. Through the considered use of Value and Sona downlights alongside ASP Albus and Flexxy LED systems, About Space has delivered a lighting scheme that is functional, refined and quietly impactful.

In a competitive retail landscape, it’s often the subtleties that define success. Here, lighting doesn’t demand attention—but without it, the space simply wouldn’t work.