Robust protection for wooden surfaces in Europe’s largest eyewear store with new design concept

Swedish shop furnishings provider Smålandsinredningar has been manufacturing interiors since 1926 and now enjoys greater prominence than ever, with several well-known chain store customers. Smålandsinredningar is proud to produce its interiors in Sweden and is investing in ecological, social and economic sustainability. Teknos has been working with Smålandsinredningar's since 2004 and is the main supplier of surface treatments for interior wood in their shops.

Smålandsinredningar, the interiors manufacturer for Synsam's stores, was also commissioned to design the interior for the company's new flagship store – a 700 m2 store at Norrmalmstorg in Stockholm, where the focus is on the customer experience. The shop is Europe's largest eyewear store, with around 7,000 frames. The store is conceptually completely new but has the familiarity of an ordinary Synsam store. You can even test out glasses in a simulator and wind tunnel in the store's sports testing area.

Unique interior design for Synsam's flagship project by Smålandsinredningar

The normal till area has been replaced by a table around a pillar in the middle of the store. This means that staff stand with customers rather than being separated by a till.

There were many challenges with the new concept, including the fact that all the podiums, stands and cupboards are covered with Terrazzo, a very heavy stone and cement composite. Applying this material onto pull-out drawers and cupboard doors is innovative and highly unusual. In fact as far as Smålandsinredningar is aware it has never been done before in Sweden!

Along the walls above the eyewear displays are glass boxes where the colour spectrum changes depending on where you are in the room. At the checkout tables there are small solid trays that customers can attach to the wall decor in front of the glasses to create a table surface when trying on different glasses.

The design concept was created by Stockholm Designstudio, with development and production by Smålandsinredningar.

Hard-wearing coatings for the store’s interior wood

Teknos has been Smålandsinredningar's paint supplier since 2004 and usually supplies the surface treatment for their shops' interior wood, including Synsam's new flagship store in Stockholm.

For the new store, Teknos supplied TEKNOCOAT 1677-04 as the top coat, TEKNOCOAT PRIMER 1604 and the clearcoats TEKNOCOAT 1681 and TEKNOCOAT 1683. These are durable products are well suited to public spaces.

"At Teknos, we're proud to be Smålandsinredningar's paint supplier. It's always fun working with them, as they often have challenging projects where the customer wants unique solutions,” says Daniel Tolf from the Teknos Technical Sales team. ”Teknos always works hard to meet our expectations at SMI in terms of quality, delivery, service and above all, price.” says Joakim Gustafsson, CEO of Smålandsinredningar.