Cartier · 2023
Cartier Innovation Projects
Creative Director · Japan / Global / France
The boutique had five separate frictions, from storefronts people walked past to fragmented tools for serving international clients. Each got its own build. The Looking Glass AR try-on went to select boutiques worldwide, and the Ginza Six storefront became a landmark that drew people inside.
Problem
Each initiative addressed a different friction: storefronts that no longer stopped foot traffic, fragmented tools for international clients, exhibition formats that could not connect taste to product, and innovation training that stayed abstract.
Solution
Five distinct builds: an in-store AR try-on device, a kinetic flip-disc storefront that reads passers-by, a secure staff-facing digital valet, a 380sqm immersive design destination, and a physical deck of innovation cards for workshops.
Results
The Looking Glass launched globally in select boutiques and set a benchmark for applied luxury AR. Ginza Six became a visual landmark that pulled people inside. Digital Valet improved service speed while protecting client discretion. Culture of Design ran six weeks as a cultural destination. The cards were adopted internally as a facilitation tool.
01: The Looking Glass
An in-store AR try-on device rendering high-fidelity virtual rings on the hand in real time, balancing physical accuracy against perceptual realism: brilliance, reflection and scale inside a boutique.
02: Cartier Salon
The salon environment, built as part of the same innovation programme.
03: Ginza Six flip disc installation
A large-scale flip disc display combining animation with real-time interaction: the system reads movement and silhouettes, turning passers-by into kinetic visual responses.
04: Culture of Design immersive destination
A 380sqm destination combining physical artifacts, digital storytelling and interactive experience: curatorial guidance, AR HoloLens exploration, digital games and social moments, personalising each visitor's route through Cartier's design universes.
05: In-store price scanner
A handheld unit for boutique staff: scan a piece, read its price and details without breaking the conversation to go and look them up. Taken from service-design research through a working 3D-printed prototype to a built device.
06: Cartier Tokyo Lab Innovation Card
A physical deck that turned innovation training into something people did with their hands rather than sat through. Adopted internally as a facilitation tool.
