The interiors of Chinese retail spaces offer new multidimensional perspectives and make shopping a truly immersive and emotional experience.
In the age of New Retail and O2O (Online to Offline), Chinese architects, designers, and creative studios are rethinking new retail shopping journeys, experimenting with innovations to meet the growing sophistication of consumers. Here are three recent examples.
In the city of Xi’an, Salone del Salon created a new space for Haydon and its cosmetics. The 720 m2 space has a romantic poetry about it, where customers feel as if they are walking along a peaceful pond. In the center of the displays, giant red roses shine under an atrium, decorated with concrete beams in the shape of a cross. On the floor, black diamond-like “space capsules” add a touch of science fiction. The lighting plays on this otherworldly world, generating gradations of color that are reflected in a large circular mirror. The industrial style is mixed with a retro, surreal, and abstract atmosphere, maximizing the values of the sign.
At the gates of tomorrow
In Beijing, All Design Studio has developed a more forward-looking vision by designing a futuristic laboratory for MTS Shoe Store. The cylindrical installation, inspired by a Petri dish, combines “organic” and “artificial” objects, creating the artistic image of a living structure. Over 160 m2, several themes of the future are explored, including the border between artificial intelligence and technology. The place is shaped as a container of stories, embracing nature and reflecting a diverse vision of human symbiosis. Sneakers become biological data, artificially incubated to interpret “the process of growth.”
And in Shanghai, Leaping Creative chooses instead to tell the story of how an intelligent species like Bosie landed in this city by traveling through Space. This unisex fashion flagship features a 2,000-square-foot snack bar, cafe, vintage photo booth, pet sitting, and interactive installations, including one with facial recognition that matches clothes. The first floor is inspired by space exploration equipment, while the upper floor takes on a spaceship-like feel, complete with a wall of screens and a giant goose (Bosie goose, a flagship product). The space is thus transformed into a retro-futuristic, high-tech laboratory, playing with the brand’s DNA.
https://www.alldesignstudio.net
MTS Shoe Store by All Design Studio – © Chao Fan Kang of Chao Fan Photography / © Xiao Tan of Studio Ten
https://www.leapingcreative.com
Bosie by Leaping Creative – © yuuunstud
https://www.salonedelsalon.com/
Haydon by Salone del Salon – © Sean
Nathalie Dassa