Harrods and The Kitchen Range Cookshop in Market Harborough are the two UK stores whose windows have been chosen to compete for the gia Top Window Award 2022. The gia Top Window Award 2022 – now in its second year – celebrates window displays by housewares and home retailers from all around the world. It is organised and sponsored by the International Housewares Association (IHA) and the Inspired Home Show, which also organise the international gia (Global Innovation Awards) programme for retail, product and design excellence.
Window displays from around 30 countries will be judged by the gia expert jurors, and the two overall worldwide winners (from a large and a small store) will be invited by the IHA to Chicago for the gia gala in March 2023.
Harrods’ ‘Look Who’s Home’ series of windows from April 2022 is the UK’s large store to be considered for the gia Top Window Award 2022. “Last year the ‘Harrods is Home’ series of windows was our UK gia UK Top Window Award entrant and was then honoured with one of the overall title of top window award, with Harrods winning a fabulous trip to Chicago. Despite winning last year, we thought this year’s ‘Look Who’s Home’ series of windows by Harrods was so special we needed to share it with the gia community,” said Jo Howard, editor of Progressive Housewares and Housewaresnews.net, the exclusive UK gia sponsors.
“In April 2022, Harrods created a whole street in its windows, with doors ajar and rooms and windows lit up to reveal a tantalising selection of its housewares and home goods.”
The UK’s small store entrant for the gia Top Window Award 2022 is the Paddington Jubilee window by The Kitchen Range Cookshop in Market Harborough. “Selected prior to the sad news of the Queen’s death, this window is now rather poignant,” reflected Jo. “It was a window that raised a great many smiles as The Kitchen Range’s Jade Johnston swiftly cleverly reacted to the Queen’s tv sketch having tea with Paddington Bear, which delighted the nation during the Platinum Jubilee weekend at the start of June.”
Jade adapted her red, white and blue Jubilee window to include Paddington, Paddington products and, most importantly, the Queens black handbag with a marmalade sandwich appearing from the top. Alongside this was a loaf of bread and a jar of marmalade all set to make the iconic marmalade sandwich – a favourite of both Paddington and Her Majesty. The display even included some products needed to make some delicious marmalade. “This window is now a lovely tribute to the late Queen’s wonderful sense of humour and the shared joke which united the UK back in June,” stated Jo.
Elaborating on the numerous contenders from across UK retail, Jo commented: “All of the many windows put forward as possible UK entrants for the gia Top Window Award 2022 were of an extremely high standard, showing so much creativity along with humour, intrigue and style. It was an extremely hard task to select just two shops to enter from the UK this year.” She added: “We look forward to seeing some of the wonderful windows that have also been entered from all around the world, and to finding out which show-stopping windows will win the gia Top Window Award 2022.”
Meanwhile, next week’s Excellence in Housewares Awards night on Wednesday, October 5 (Royal Lancaster London) will include another hugely exciting gia announcement. The UK’s gia winner 2022/2023 will be announced during the Awards ceremony, selected from among the winners of the retail award categories. This gia UK winner for 2022/2023 will win a trip to Chicago to attend the gia events and the Inspired Home Show (March 4-7 2023).
The gia UK winner2022/2023 will compete alongside other amazing housewares retailers from over 30 countries for the title of gia Global Honoree. It will also be part of a display at The Inspired Home Show.
The UK retailers that have already been made gia Global Honorees cannot be chosen as a gia UK winner again.
