Award-winning designer Christopher Jenner merges local culture and the heritage of a brand to create contemporary masterpieces
Since opening his studio in 2010, Jenner has made a name for himself creating immersive interiors and retail environments
Christopher Jenner thinksthe word "luxury" has lost all meaning. "With globalisation and a rise in the amount of wealthy people in the world, it has become purely a commercial concept," he says.
The London-based designer prefers the word "sophistication", which for him conjures up thoughts of "consideration, care, knowledge and experience" - all ingredients necessary to take a dusty or stagnant heritage brand or craft into the world of contemporary design - and this is something Jenner has done time and again.
It's no wonder that Jenner has no wish to be "pigeonholed or typecast", something the designer knew from the onset.
Since opening his studio in 2010, Jenner has made a name for himself creating immersive interiors and retail environments - replete with revamped brand identities - crafting furniture for the home and bathroom, and designing a range of products from luggage and lighting to cutlery.
Jenner's energetic and multidisciplinary approach to design is due in no small part to his background and colourful work experience. Having studied fine art and industrial design in his native South Africa, he travelled extensively around the world between the two degrees, spending extended periods of time in Paris, Tel Aviv and Hong Kong - working in the restaurant industry in the latter.
He eventually chose to settle in London at the end of the '90s, but not before finding the time to launch a performance apparel brand with a business partner in Cape Town. The business ultimately failed, but Jenner says it was the perfect training ground.
"Anyone in business will tell you that to go bankrupt once is probably the best lesson of your life," Jenner says. His first foray into entrepreneurship taught him about budgeting and financial strategy, he says but, above all, it emboldened him never to wait for the "phone to ring".
With this mantra in mind, Jenner has never looked back. After several years in London creating installations and designing launch events for brands as varied as Swarovski and Harry Winston, he got a job creating "environments and stores" for French perfumer extraordinaire Diptyque and decided to launch his own studio. The year was 2010 and London was still in full post-recession miasma. People were moving away from big purchases and were looking for more "substance" from their favourite brands, Jenner recalls.
The key, he realised, was merging the values and heritage of the brand with the local culture so that the stores weren't identical. For Diptyque's Leadenhall market store in London for instance, Jenner infused Victorian influences, while the New York shop featured a 1930s industrial metal look and the Chicago boutique was structural and linear. "By creating connections, we weren't just honouring the culture of the place but also creating new culture in the process."