Turgeon Raine
Turgeon Raine's 7,000 square foot jewelry showroom on Fifth Avenue brings the longtime Seattle jeweler into a more visible downtown location. SkB Architects designed the storefront and interiors around the experience of viewing and selecting jewelry, where light, proportion, distance, and even the angle of a display can change what someone sees.
Elements from Turgeon Raine's previous store were brought into the new showroom alongside custom casework, plasterwork, metal screens, and furnishings made for the Fifth Avenue location. The result carries something familiar forward while giving the collection more room and a stronger presence on the street.
Seattle, WA
7,000 SF
Retail
Jewelry Showroom
Concept
Viewing jewelry happens at a very particular distance. Pieces are picked up, turned, examined closely, and seen under changing light. Those small interactions shaped the design of Turgeon Raine's new Fifth Avenue showroom.
SkB Architects worked with the client and lighting designer to test how jewelry would be seen in different display conditions, including pieces presented horizontally and vertically. Cases, lighting, surrounding materials, and sightlines were developed together so the architecture could recede when attention needed to be on the collection.
The move also offered a chance to decide what should come along. Existing display cases from the previous showroom were retained and incorporated with new custom casework and furnishings, giving longtime clients points of familiarity within a new setting.
A Storefront on Fifth Avenue
The move placed Turgeon Raine directly on Fifth Avenue in downtown Seattle. SkB Architects gave the jewelry showroom a new street presence through large display windows, a dark stone entry, custom signage, and carefully detailed metalwork.
The windows offer glimpses of the collection and interior from the sidewalk. At the entrance, the material palette becomes darker and more concentrated, marking the transition from a busy downtown street to the quieter showroom inside.
Lighting the Collection
Jewelry changes with light. Metal, stones, color, and surface can read differently according to the intensity and direction of illumination, so lighting was treated as part of the architecture from the beginning.
SkB Architects worked with the client and lighting designer to test display conditions throughout the design process. Cases accommodate jewelry shown both flat and upright, with lighting calibrated for each orientation. The surrounding surfaces remain restrained so color, texture, and fine detail can be seen clearly.
Made for the Showroom
Some display cases from Turgeon Raine's previous store were carefully relocated to Fifth Avenue. SkB Architects designed new casework around them, allowing pieces with a history in the business to remain in use while the showroom expanded around them.
Elsewhere, plaster clad columns, hand finished plasterwork, laser cut metal screens, and custom jewelry cases were developed specifically for the new space. Their details reward close viewing, an appropriate quality in a room devoted to objects that are themselves examined at close range.
