CHEESE BOARD BY GRANDIOSE
Cheese Board’s new flagship on Bluewaters Island is not a grocery store wearing theatrical lights. It’s a stage. Commissioned by Grandiose and reimagined by TwentyOne06, the 1,126 sq ft (104.6 sq m) interior translates cheesemaking into a rebranded architecture, materiality, and choreography – reframing product, pedagogy and retail into a single, sensory performance. Not just a rebrand, it’s a supermarket-born concept transformed into a standalone cultural destination.
Client
Grandiose
Location
Bluewaters Island
Date
2025
Venue
Retail Store
The Design
Concept
Cheese Board is about creating a masterpiece on a charcuterie board. Cheese making is an age-old craft through which we aim to tell a story with every selection. This is where cheese making meets fine art, where it meets history and tradition, where each flavor is a note, each pairing of cheeses – a chord, each tasting event – a performance. Our artisans are like painters with their palettes or composers with their symphonies.
Interior Design Direction
It is Cheese Board’s first independent store outside the Grandiose supermarket network, designed to stand alone as a premium destination on Bluewaters Island. The ambition demanded more than identity work — it required an environment sophisticated enough for Dubai’s most cosmopolitan visitors, while still retaining accessibility and approachability. This is a design-first project that treats cheese as the protagonist, design as the stagecraft, and the guest as an intentional audience. The outcome is a premium, approachable “Gallery of Taste” where rare wheels and humble wedges are displayed, explained and celebrated as cultural artifacts.
Logo Design
This logo concept is vaguely inspired by classic crest-style designs, but in a more modern way. It includes hand-sketched images of a wooden board and the King of cheese – Parmesan, to accentuate the idea of Art, with clean serif fonts.
The Reception Area - Display Logic
Crucially, the design is commercial by intent. The merchandising strategy, 70% display devoted to cheese, ensures that visual merchandising itself becomes the primary sales driver. Rotating premium showcases and The Vault create a cadence of scarcity and novelty that incentivises return visits. The Curation counter functions as an upsell engine: personalized boards, paired drinks, and guided service increase average spend and deepen brand loyalty. This is designed as a business strategy: spatial sequencing encourages discovery, premium materiality justifies price, and intimate programming (tastings, workshops) converts customers into a community.
Designing the Cheese Performance
A Five-Act Experience
The floorplan was designed as a sequential performance that guides guests through discovery, retail, rarity, personalization, and community. From tasting stations and curated displays to a vault for rare cheeses, bespoke board curation, and cultural activations, each zone is crafted to deepen engagement, extend dwell time, and turn visits into lasting relationships.
Materiality as Metaphor
Every element references cheese itself. Raw stone and textured marble recall rinds and aging surfaces, while warm wood veneers echo cellars and terroir. Sculptural blocks mirror wedges and wheels, and string-like lighting abstracts the pull of mozzarella or fondue. A palette of creams, beiges, and soft golds borrows directly from cheese, balancing polished and rough finishes to reflect its duality. The result is an environment that feels tactile, edible, and unmistakably branded.
Cheese Board Branding
We created a brand identity that mirrors the interiors: premium yet approachable, rooted in tradition but designed for today. The logo takes inspiration from cheese’s natural forms, while typography and colour reflect craft and warmth. Packaging and collateral extend the “Gallery of Taste” beyond the store, positioning Cheese Board as a cultural destination for discovery and community.
Cheese Board – Bluewaters Island
We transformed Cheese Board from a simple supermarket counter into its first standalone destination. Designed as a premium yet inviting space, the store blends retail with experience—curated displays, tasting workshops, and community events all centered around cheese culture. More than a shop, Cheese Board is a vibrant brand identity and lifestyle destination built to last.
