Selfridges’s Project Ocean is launched! See the building glowing beautifully in different colours!

Selfridges has launched Project Ocean – a public awareness drive dedicated to spreading awareness about endangered fish in our ocean. Impressively, they have thrown their full weight behind the project which I must confess is astonishing and refreshingly bold for a retailer. It is truly wonderful to see them lead from the front. Nearly all of the store’s world famous window displays are dedicated to spreading the word about the real dangers of over-fishing and the possibility of extinction. One window is a giant aquarium touchscreen window which displays an ocean bed full of fishes, and when you make a donation via a text message, you get your very own “fish” which then appears on the giant screen with your name on it. I must applaud Selfridges for showing serious intent towards this project because the threat of extinction is very genuine and must be taken seriously. It has also removed 70 types of threatened fish products from the store as part of the scheme.

New York artist Jason Hackenwerth is involved, as is fashion designer Katharine Hamnett who has created a number of limited edition t-shirts. There will also be a number of talks hosted by international marine protection campaigners inside the Ultralounge, and plenty of entertainment and other activities inside the store! So do go down and visit the place!

I went to the store on launch evening and met a number of very interesting people. The building itself was glowing like you have never seen before. Every few seconds it would light up in a number of different colours – blue, white, pink, purple, green, red and more. It was an incredible sight to witness. I was told by a gentleman who works there that it is all done manually via an iPhone! Apparently someone sits in the building, changing the colours via the Apple device. It is so fascinating that such a tiny thing holds so much control over an enormous structure!

Beautiful!