{"id":18315,"date":"2017-05-12T13:29:34","date_gmt":"2017-05-12T13:29:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artzealous.com\/?p=18315"},"modified":"2017-05-12T13:29:34","modified_gmt":"2017-05-12T13:29:34","slug":"jobs-in-the-art-world-retail-designer-franci-sagar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/jobs-in-the-art-world-retail-designer-franci-sagar\/","title":{"rendered":"Jobs in the Art World: Retail Designer Franci Sagar"},"content":{"rendered":"
We’ve all visited a museum and been forced to exit through the gift shop. The assumption is often that visitors will not give the shop a second look unless they literally have to walk through it to leave the museum. Meet Franci Sagar, a woman who’s made a career out of turning this assumption on its head. Not only is Sagar the Vice President and Director of Retail and Brand Development at Museum of Arts and Design<\/a> in New York City\u2014she’s also the founder of Lakeside Collaborative<\/a>, a group that provides its unique consulting services to specialty retailers, non-profit museums and other cultural institutions. We had a chance to chat with Franci about how she developed her eye for creative retail and the ways she’s giving museum stores major makeovers for this month’s\u00a0“Jobs in the Art World.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n AZ: What is something that you wish you knew at the beginning of your career?<\/strong><\/p>\n FS:<\/strong> What we don\u2019t know at the beginning of our journey is often what allows us to make all the crazy decisions and to take all the risks. If anything, I sometimes wish I knew less now\u2014some of the best decisions I\u2019ve ever made were before I knew how difficult they would be to execute. But if I had to pick, I wish I would have known that it was okay to wear comfortable shoes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n AZ: Besides being the VP of Retail and Brand Development at MAD (The Museum of Arts and Design), you also have your own consulting firm, Lakeside Collaborative, with clients such as the Barnes Foundation, the Perez Art Museum Miami, the Rubin Museum, and most recently Lincoln Center. How do you manage your time and what does a typical day look like for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n FS:<\/strong> My day starts with looking at yesterday\u2019s emails to make sure nothing has fallen through the cracks. My business partner (and daughter) arrives for an 8 am work session to review our current client projects and business development opportunities. This often includes a phone call with any one of our collaborators, sometimes an architect or graphic designer to discuss a client\u2019s branded retail identity program or store design.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Then it\u2019s the A train up to MAD. There, the first thing I do is check in with my retail staff on the day\u2019s agenda. On any given day, I might follow that up by reviewing artist product submissions and meeting with other MAD leadership to strategize how retail can extend the museum’s departmental endeavors. We\u2019re always seeking new ways for The Store to contribute to the visitor experience and promote messaging. There\u2019s usually a long-range project on the calendar that needs addressing\u2014a trunk show, an off-site MAD pop-up, or a marketing initiative. On days when I\u2019m not in the museum, I\u2019m visiting makers’ studios and showrooms or combing through a trade show on its behalf, and I often travel locally and globally to discover new talent beyond what the tradeshows present.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n All of that is to earn my sacred time on the retail floor alongside my staff, eavesdropping on customer comments while I visually change up\/merchandise the product on the floor. I move one thing and it ends up being a whole new choreography between products. My day ends by disconnecting electronically and taking some downtime.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n AZ: How do you cultivate relationships with makers and artists?<\/strong><\/p>\n FS:<\/strong> Earning the makers’ trust is hugely important\u2014visiting their studios and listening to their stories is an integral part of becoming acquainted with their process. Trust develops through the conversation. It\u2019s about keying into their passion, what moves them, how they do what they do and what they want other people to know about their work. Our role as museum retailers is to translate the intimacy of this dialogue to the customer. We\u2019re a bridge between the artist, the customer and the museum. I like to think that our collaboration goes towards them being able to sustain a living doing what they love, from the sale of their work.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I think that\u2019s why visual merchandising and retail environment design is so central to my role as a retail strategist. I want each artist I work with to feel their work is being placed with care and an aesthetic sensitivity. For instance, I make sure all our glass is displayed where it can capture light and that complementary materials are placed together in inspiring compositions that make people rethink the way they live with objects.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n AZ: On your website you call what you do \u201cmission-driven retail.\u201d What is that and how did you come to it?<\/strong><\/p>\n FS:<\/strong> \u201cMission-driven retail\u201d describes retail as a language used to communicate a set of values and a platform for social impact. In the art world, this is the parent institution\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I came to MAD 16 years ago based on the reputation of my retail business, ZONA. ZONA was an iconic lifestyle store my then-husband and I built in Soho in the 80s when Soho was at the center of the art world, and the retail stores that were opening than were an extension of that artistic creativity. I became known for a signature merchandising style that focused on visual storytelling and product vignettes. It was different from the \u201cgallery\u201d trend: it was tactile and sensorial. It was a hop and skip away from what was missing in museum stores. I didn\u2019t know in the days of ZONA that what I was doing would morph into what we like to call \u201cmission-driven retail\u201d\u2014where each retail touchpoint is in service to a message.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n After I had left ZONA, I was brought on to rethink the retail experience at MAD. I realized how instrumental retail could be as a brand asset and as a medium through which to communicate a museum\u2019s mission. I saw each customer in the store as a museum patron, and the product assortment and retail experience offered had to be commensurate with the role of patron supporting the museum and the exhibitions. That\u2019s fundamentally what shopping in museum stores is: an act of modern patronage.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At Lakeside we design immersive retail identities that echo and underline the parent brand\u2019s mission. The stores we design become brand assets. It\u2019s a place where a museum can be a bit lighter on its feet. With The Store at MAD, we base all of our decisions on how we can best mirror MAD\u2019s sensibility and mission to showcase innovation in craft, art and design. Just as it does for its exhibitions and educational programs, The Store at MAD is about celebrating the creative process through which materials are crafted into works that enhance contemporary life. That\u2019s mission-driven retail in action.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n AZ: Any advice to those who want to be sold in a museum store?<\/strong><\/p>\n FS:<\/strong> Target a museum that truly resonates with the message behind your work. Identify stores that align with your philosophy because in many ways, those stores will be the face of your product, and the staff will be telling your story. It\u2019s also critical that you develop a consistent business acumen: study best-practices such as how to create wholesale invoices, meet deadlines and most of all, keep making and refining your body of work.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n