Brooklyn-based Ringo Studio has reimagined the experience of shopping for sex toys, creating a store in New York modelled on a collegiate locker room.
The Contact Sports shop on Mercer Street in Soho is designed to feel very different to the typical spaces in which products for sex are purchased.
The store interior features walnut panelling and mosaic flooring
"In a survey conducted before launch, the majority of people reported feeling uncomfortable walking into a sex store," said the studio. "Uninviting exteriors felt intimidating, the aisles were hard to navigate, and the shelves stocked hundreds of products that were hard to decipher."
Working with Ringo Studio founder Madelynn Ringo ? who has designed retail spaces for Glossier, Bala and Our Place ? the brand devised a shopping experience based around sport, and used cues from this world to inform the interiors. Merchandise is displayed on brass rails and shelving
The retail space includes an area at the front that sells long-stem roses in singles or bundles, including a 15-foot (4.5 metre) wall on which the fresh-cut red flowers are stored.
Beyond, dark walnut panelling, brass rails and shelves, and green cushions give the store a collegiate atmosphere, while mosaic floor tiles and baskets of towels evoke a locker room.
Walnut panelling forms locker-like cubby holes for displaying products
Vintage sporting ephemera like tennis rackets, boxing gloves and American football helmets are displayed on hi...