Imaginary Park: LOOKNOW Store in Shanghai by MHPD.

Seemingly taking over the world one store at a time, LOOKNOW graces our pages once again with a new store designed by renegade interior design studio MHPD. Located in ONE EAST in central Shanghai, with unobstructed views of the Huangpu riverfront, this new retail store feels as if you’ve climbed through the looking glass straight into a very Alice in Wonderland-esque reality.

Gigantic fish hovering in display windows with graffiti painted scales and exaggerated artificial mushrooms of various shapes and sizes are among the surprises found within this imagined modern ‘park’. As a myriad of colours and textures define functional spaces the combination of elements creates various viewing points – so much so one wonders where to look. MHPD inserted a small space into the site that forms the circulation, framing the space with mirrored and steel ceilings and flooring.

The design team custom-designed many of the objects from the tube-shape display shelves and the sea window installation that calmly flows into the interior. An experiential art installation seeks to capture the imagination with its twirling blue tassels. Spinning in the light breeze like trees rustling it feels reminiscent of walking in a park on a sunny afternoon.

The mushrooms take centre stage within the interior, a magical thing to see in a park at any time. Inspired by the book The Mushroom at the End of the World MHPD took creative licence with their size and colour to add a bit more drama and fun to the space. Blue painted walls and cabinetry interlace with butter coloured curtains while mirrored surfaces welcome you to be playfully spellbound.

MHPD is a creative studio based in Shanghai focusing on interior and product design. While exploring spatial forms, MHPD tries to establish and transform material trends and potentials, and to keep audiences Mildly Hypnotized & Properly Distracted. Artist Paul Hsu, Founder and Design Director of MHPD, was recently commissioned by Tom Dixon to have hacked 2 FAT Lounge Chairs for 24 Hours in Shanghai. He believes as Iris van Herpen said, “The more difficult or further away something feels, the more it attracts me. If a material is too easy to work with it, it cannot start a process, so I let it go.”

Related: Artist in Residence: LOOKNOW Flagship Store by Sò Studio.

[Images courtesy of MHPD. Photography by Chen Hao.]