Icicle Concept Store Shanghai by Andrea Tognon

Our eyes have been graced with the privilege of gawking over ICICLE’s new concept store in Shanghai’s Grand Gateway 66 complex. Italian architect, Andrea Tognon, bringing his distinct style and highly sensitive and thoughtful design approach to the project, has created the 485 square meter interior for the Chinese clothing brand.

If you feel like you are experiencing deja vu that is because the same harmony achieved here can also be seen in his previous project, the Berlin flagship store for Jil Sanders. Clearly Tognon’s ability to design with clean lines and simple geometries to achieve an awe-inspiring purity is not a one-hit-wonder.

ICICLE’s guiding principles are born out of an appreciation and respect for humans’ fragile relationship with the natural world. This is an interest shared by Tognon, who endeavoured to find a sense of equal dialogue between natural, sustainable materials and fluid, functional movement for the people who will occupy this store.

ICICLE’s International Vice President, Isabelle Capron, asserts the brand’s environmentally conscious approach to fashion, a principle illuminated in the ‘Natural Way’ capsule made out of 100% natural and organic materials. In response, Tognon employed marble, solid walnut, glazed porcelain and concrete within the interior creating a largely soft colour palette reminiscent of nature. He speaks of the importance of “using beauty that earth gives us in a conscious way”, reserving the use of exquisite marble for durable furniture pieces, and inserting custom-designed LED ceiling lights that are just as much energy efficient as they are beautiful.

There is a sculptural quality to the concept and the furnishings, including the four marble tables which could easily be transported out of the store and sit comfortably on top of a white plinth in an art gallery. A deep blue, eighteen piece, glazed porcelain table stands as a loud character against the surrounding muted walls. Reflections distort themselves across its shimmering blue top.

The table becomes a symbol for the union of two design entities who have come together with a common vision, the porcelain nodding to Chinese culture while alluding to traditional Italian ceramics. The symbiosis of the two design languages becomes the ingredient that is necessary for the creation of such a beautiful end result.

There is a continued junction of straight lines intersecting with an organic curve, a sense of harshness counterbalanced with something soft. The walls within the store shift their trajectory, moving from straight lines into soft curves, at moments segments slope inward leaving a hollowed cave for light to slither down. Weighty materials such as cement, marble and concrete are severe and angular in isolation, but when layered with soft furnishings, plants and carefully curated moments of colour, a harmonious equilibrium is created.

This sense of balance continues with the division of the space. Walls divide the large store into three smaller volumes allowing for a sense of intimacy and protection while visitors move through the large, open-plan store. These divisions seamlessly flow into one another, encouraging movement through the different zones and discovery of the clothes, and just as importantly, the architecture.