Set within Heinemann’s Copenhagen store, we were tasked with exploring how digital interaction could live comfortably inside a premium retail environment. The goal was not to shout for attention, but to invite curiosity. Something that felt considered, calm, and distinctly Danish.
Heinemann wanted to build on their growing use of interactive retail, creating an experience that felt local to Copenhagen while remaining scalable across their wider travel retail network. The challenge was to design something that enhanced dwell time and discovery without interrupting the natural flow of the space or the customer journey.
It needed to feel intuitive, beautiful, and genuinely useful. No gimmicks. No learning curve.
The Idea
With retail experts Checkland Kindleysidses, we partnered to design an interactive experience that blended seamlessly into the store environment, encouraging exploration through touch, movement, and proximity. Rather than pulling people out of the retail moment, the experience worked as an extension of it.
Content, interaction, and visual language were all shaped to feel editorial and premium, rewarding users who chose to engage without demanding it from everyone passing by.
The Experience
Positioned within the store, the installation responded naturally to how people approached and interacted with it. Shoppers could explore curated product stories, brand content, and recommendations in a way that felt personal and self paced, rewarding both brief moments of engagement and deeper exploration.
The interface was deliberately restrained. Clean layouts, considered motion, and subtle transitions created a sense of calm confidence, allowing the experience to sit comfortably within the space without competing for attention.
Behind the scenes, the system was built to be robust, flexible, and easily updated, enabling Heinemann to evolve content over time without altering the physical setup. The result was a premium, understated interactive moment that felt at home in Copenhagen, supporting both brand storytelling and customer discovery while reinforcing a more experiential approach to retail.
Research & Development
As a core aspect of the project, we undertook extensive R&D to develop a real time water simulation that felt textural, responsive, and alive, while remaining stable enough to run continuously, day and night.
The challenge was balancing visual richness with absolute reliability, ensuring the simulation could respond instantly to touch and movement without degradation over time. Through careful optimisation, custom tooling, and repeated stress testing, we created a system that delivered a calm, immersive presence while meeting the practical demands of a 24/7 retail environment. The result was a water simulation that felt natural and expressive, yet engineered for longevity rather than spectacle.
Take a look are more R&D in our LABS.