1WOR Flagship Store in Shenzhen, China by DOMANI

It’s an interesting narrative by Ann Yu, the lead architect from DOMANI, about the inspiration behind the design of the flagship store of 1WOR in Shenzhen, China. Rationalism and logic captured her heart as a child, via the introduction of mathematical approaches to problem-solving and the application of reason. Later the antithesis intrigued her – the art movements of surrealism and cubism. For this retail store, Yu was inspired by one of the most influential artists of the first half of the 20th century – Pablo Picasso. In this project, she’s used both the absence of logic and the implementation of it, to create a rather striking space for the Chinese fashion brand.

1WOR pitches itself as a global design brand, so it was essential to emphasise the feeling of affordable luxury to mirror the brand’s identity. Domani was working within a problematic space, one that needed to support a series of product displays and related functions, within a limited budget.

Throwing caution to the wind, the design team turfed out traditional design methods, embracing Ann Yu’s love for the unconventional, while implementing a spatial design that relied on logical reasoning.

“We abandoned transitional logic of two-dimensional business plan display, back to this wired angled space. The outline of space is used as the base of the design and generate circulation line by folding the plan to create a new two-dimensional sequence in space, created a spatial design that seemed based on inspiration but actually it is based on logical creation,” said Yu.

The wall colours run floor to ceiling, creating blocks of tint that penetrate and break through the space. Calming soft salmon pinks run along the floors and up the walls. The gentle pastel colour contrasts beautifully with the panels of chic grey walls and ceilings. Brass cuboid display units are complemented by fine brass rods running in geometric forms. The rods are used to hang clothes or to meld with simple round discs to act as display tables. It all reads like a stunning sculptural installation within the space. Even the way the rods insert flawlessly into the ceiling structure, via perfectly round holes, as though they continue on forever, is exceptional.

“Shelves and main prop are firmed orthogonal geometry, composed by round, rectangular and distinct lines, and they were organised in a slightly skewed shape,” explains Yu.

Deliciously large and small circular mirrors are linked via the brass rods, a contemporary take on the Art Nouveau period. Mirrors were used to creating vanishing points, to slot into ceiling spaces, to randomly reflect people and images – in essence, to manipulate reality in much the same way Picasso did.

“The top view is composed of the mirror reflection of ceiling plan and shelving system, the control that can be controlled, the organisation that can be organised, and the existence of uncontrolled and unstructured part lies randomly in the space may be the most reasonable way of procedure,” said Yu.

It is the most simple of designs, expertly curated. From the geometric brass-rod and mirror sculptures to the exemplary use of lowering and raising of the ceiling heights, to the application of colour… it is all just so. Darn. Good… It almost seems a shame to put anything else in it.