Netherlands | Amsterdam
The Urbanista | Amsterdam
client
The Urbanista
Date
October 2022
Services
Retail Environment Design
Interior Design
Branding
Packaging design
Netherlands | Amsterdam
The Urbanista | Amsterdam
Client
The Urbanista
Date
October 2022
Services
Retail Environment Design
Interior Design
Branding
Packaging design
The Brief
The Urbanista is a Dutch jewellery brand founded by the owners of Ten Eight — a concept-store approach to accessories, built around curation, atmosphere, and the personal experience of the customer. From the beginning, the ambition was clear: to create a brand that could sit comfortably alongside the most considered independent labels in the Netherlands, and a retail environment worthy of the neighbourhoods it would inhabit. Because Ten Eight founded the brand, the commission was total. Everything — the brand identity, the store design, the fit-out delivery, the buying strategy, the staff training, the operational model — was developed and executed under one roof. Every element of what The Urbanista is today was designed at Ten Eight. The flagship store sits on the Negen Straatjes (the Nine Streets) — one of Amsterdam's most prestigious shopping districts, in the heart of the historic canal ring. Two additional stores followed in Alkmaar and Utrecht. The brand needed to feel entirely at home in each city, while carrying a single unmistakable identity across all three.
The Approach
The Urbanista identity was designed to feel confident, warm, and considered — Dutch minimalism reinterpreted for a contemporary jewellery audience. Slim, elegant typography in brushed brass anchors the visual system, applied physically as sculptural lettering across shop facades and repeated with the same restraint through packaging, communications, and digital channels. The store design carries the same philosophy. In Amsterdam, a shop with four-metre ceilings on the ground floor is treated as a small architectural sanctuary rather than a conventional retail interior. Chalk- textured beige walls, matt PU-painted custom joinery in matching soft tones, and a poured concrete floor create a quiet, gallery-like foundation. Sculptural arched display niches line each wall — softly illuminated to hold the jewellery like exhibits, layered with warm terracotta vessels, dried florals, and sculptural objects that give the space a tactile, editorial character. Brushed brass details echo the logo language throughout. A fabric-lined feature wall with concealed cove lighting emphasises the ceiling height and softens the whole composition.
The Approach
Downstairs in the Amsterdam flagship, a dedicated Charm Bar occupies the cellar — a workshop-driven experience where customers design and assemble their own pieces. The same material language extends into this space, giving the brand a second dimension of retail that no jewellery competitor offers in the same way. The stores in Alkmaar and Utrecht carry the same design DNA — same material palette, same joinery language, same lighting logic, same brand voice — while adapting to the specific architecture and demographic of each city. The result is a three-city retail portfolio that reads unmistakably as one brand. Beyond design, Ten Eight owns every operational layer of the business. Buying strategy, supplier relationships, pricing, packaging, staff training, and store operations are all developed and refined in- house. It is what allows the brand to remain coherent as it grows.
The Outcome
The Urbanista has been a profitable business since 2018, operating three stores across three of the Netherlands' most desirable shopping districts. What began as a single flagship on the Nine Streets is now an established Dutch jewellery brand with a coherent identity, a distinctive retail environment, and a loyal customer base. More importantly for Ten Eight, The Urbanista is a demonstration of what our practice can do in its most complete form. Brand strategy, visual identity, retail environment design, fit-out delivery, buying, and operations — all developed as a single coordinated commission, and proven in the most demanding way possible: through years of trading, growth, and profit. Very few design firms could credibly claim this range. Ten Eight has lived it.
