BEIJING They’ve created a buzz in a way
that no other brand has done before – a reason
for people to get off the couch and visit a
sunglasses store. So said Tim Rupp, design
director of retail environments for Nike,
during last year’s Frame Awards deliberations.
The London outpost was up for Single-Brand
Store of the Year, an award it eventually took
home. Eventually being the operative word,
since there was a crumb of criticism prior
to the final decision. Namely, that this store
wasn’t quite as extreme or immersive as
ome of its predecessors. Basically, Gentle
Monster’s biggest competition was its
existing portfolio.
The brand is no longer just
one to watch – it’s a force to be reckoned
with. Glasses aside, it’s amassed a string of
destination stores that inspire desire. While
it’s not exactly surprising that someone else
wanted a piece of that pie, it is interesting that
Gentle Monster was willing to take its house
style out of house. The story goes that as a big
fan of Gentle Monster’s stores, the CEO of
luxury mall SKP in Beijing, Mr Ji, called up the
eyewear brand’s founder and chief executive,
Hankook Kim. Ji was developing a hip new
offshoot of SKP called SKP-S (the ‘S’ stands
for south), and wanted to discuss a potential
collaboration.
The final result of that discussion
was a shared alternative vision for the luxury
department store. While the conclusion at
which they arrived isn’t radical, the sheer
scale and scope of the project are. Entitled
Digital-Analog Future, the concept foresees a
world where ‘advances in technology blur the
boundary between human and digital realms,
enabling new forms of evolution beyond our
imagination’. Theming the collaboration as
such provided Gentle Monster the opportu-
nity to run wild with its surreal style, realizing
everything from a field of grazing robotic
sheep to a rundown of Martian history.
It may seem like it’s all just for
show – a series of whacky installations to
delight the senses and doubtless fill Instagram
feeds – but you can actually buy things here.The aforementioned Martian history lesson
is part of the second-floor Select Shop, a
fashion retail store. Alongside a model of the
spacecraft that apparently transported the first
settlers to Mars and other mythical memora-
bilia from the Red Planet, four zones feature
apparel and accessories from top brands.
There’s also a concept café on the third floor,
which serves ‘edible creations inspired by the
story of a strange portal connecting Mars and
Earth’ – those present for the press preview
sampled Gentle Monster-style desserts
shaped like an ear and a mushroom.
Naturally, Gentle Monster has its
own store in SKP-S. But no, the shop doesn’t
include a new department that takes on
external clients: Kim has confirmed that he
and his team are not looking to branch out
into the design of other new retail spaces. But
they will be part of SKP-S’s evolution, tracking
the customer experience and updating the
content in response. TI
gentlemonster.comGentle Monster is an eyewear brand, right? Well, now the Seoul-based
company can also add ‘set designers for an entire department store’
to its bag of tricks. In a radical retail move, the in-house design team
was called upon to deck out the interiors of SKP-S, the forward-facing
offshoot of Beijing’s SKP luxury mall.
department
(store)
departure
114 Spaces