Shinola: How Custom Metalworking Transforms the Retail Experience

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Whether you’re shopping for clothing, coffee, or kicks, there’s something appealing about entering a world positively dedicated to that product—from wall-to-wall sunglasses displays to custom sneaker cubbies under every countertop. When product and retail space merge, it’s transportive, breeding brand loyalty, connoisseurship, and high buzz. Shinola is exactly like that. The Detroit design brand has launched its flagship store in TriBeCa. With an interior designed by The Rockwell Group, the space evokes an American industrial tradition, melding with Shinola’s American-made, vintage-inspired bicycles, watches, leather goods, and notebooks. Bikes float against brick walls, held up by Total Metal Resource’s custom-made integrated shelving. An intricate staircase—made of steel—spirals its way up to an overhead catwalk. Light pours in from a steel-framed skylight, and brass details abound. For our metalwork team, achieving the look and subsequent consumer experience that Shinola and The Rockwell Group wanted meant innovating new techniques. Here are two of our proudest moments: 1. We created a custom brass-cast exterior logo with a soft, distressed finish—the only one of its kind in NYC. 2. In order to create structural pieces with the strength of steel and the look of darkened brass, our staff came together, experimented in-house with various finishing products, and created a totally new steel finishing technique.When it comes to creating a unique retail experience that fits your brand, Total Metal Resource has the custom metalworking chops. Check out photos of Shinola, and a write-up in the New York Times.