Wood panel walls and a large canvas tent invoke the feeling of a frontier outpost for Independent Goods, located in Idaho’s scenic Sun Valley. Tapping into references of the National Park Service, the Union Pacific Railroad, the development of the ski resort in the 1930’s and Ernest Hemingway’s tenure in the region, the design team sought to express this love and connection to the mountains and to the rough, pioneering spirit of those who helped shape this community.
The interior of the store takes shape around a large, two-color hand made canvas tent that hangs from the ceiling over the rear merchandise tables. The tent, a nod to the once frontier aspect of Idaho’s past helps to create a volume within the long storefront space and to provide some privacy should a special event be taking place in the store. All of the display furnishings in and around the tent were designed by Best Practice and fabricated by Seattle craftsman.
Best Practice sourced these vintage chairs, and hand painted the green dip and beige “socks.” Rather than acting as seats around a table, we fabricated custom hooks to hang the chairs, which now act as display in the shop.
