Fancy a snog?

This sky is achieved using over 3000 RGB LEDs set into arrays of 16 on 250 mm² video tiles. Hidden behind a translucent Barrisol stretched plastic ceiling, the programmable LEDs shine through, to create a blue sky across which scud fluffy white clouds. 'We have tried to create an idyllic summer environment,' says Harris, 'and how better than to literally recreate a summer sky.' The LEDs, controlled using a DMX protocol, can be programmed to change according to the time of day, season, or any special event.

The Kensington store was completed in May 2008, and Snog was so impressed that it immediately commissioned Harris for its Soho store, too. Here, a more ambitious volumetric concept sees 700 etched glass globes hanging from the sixteen-square-metre ceiling. Dubbed 'effervescent' by visitors, the ceiling bubbles and changes hue as clusters of six LEDs inside each 80-mm-diameter globe change colour. 'This lighting installation was also initially based upon the sky idea,' says Harris, 'but considering the colourful neighbourhood that the store is in, we decided to program in party modes of saturated colours, too.'

The effect at both stores instantly gets people smiling. While the Kensington store's ceiling is slightly subtler, both add a sense of playfulness and, yes, summer to surroundings that include mushroom shaped stools and vibrant pink backdrops. Next up is a Snog Kiosk pitted with sparkling LED dimples for London's new Westfield shopping complex. Fancy a Snog anyone? (Will Jones)