Alien Retail Design

Retail designers and science fiction fans may seem unlikely bedfellows, but they agree on one point: the effects of the Giger bars in Chur and Gruyére in Switzerland are quite staggering. Each of these quiet medieval towns is home to bars that have been designed by Swiss artist and designer H.R. Giger and are totally in keeping with his oeuvre of dark and macabre work. Although the name Giger is revered by the worldwide community of science fiction aficionados due to this artist’s phenomenal impact upon illustration, comic books and computer games, he is seldom recognised outside this rather self-contained world. However, although the name Giger may not be known, his work most certainly is. It was Giger who was responsible for the deeply disturbing set designs and appalling creatures featured in Ridley Scott’s 1979 film Alien.

The Giger bars allow customers to walk into vast spin-arched vaults and sit in ribcage-backed chairs that are so unnervingly familiar from Scott’s film. Sitting in a Giger bar one is not sure if one is in the internal organs of a monstrous creature, on the deck of a monstrous space craft, or in a warped medieval ossuary. Whether you are a fan of science fiction or not, the Giger bars demonstrate the huge untapped possibilities of retail design; we are all familiar with bars and retail outlets that utilise a theme, but there can be very few that completely immerse themselves in a concept to this astonishing degree. Obviously, the budget behind the construction of the Giger bars was far bigger than most retail designers have available, but these cathedrals of bones demonstrate what is possible if a designer and client truly believe in a project and are prepared to let their imaginations and vision free. The popularity of the Giger bars, which have become tourist attractions in themselves, confirms that commercial success and creative thinking are interdependent in retail design and safe options are seldom profitable.




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