Still Young Brings the Outdoors in at Arc’teryx Beijing Flagship

Of all the world’s great cities, Vancouver has one of the closest connections to nature. Surrounded by dense forests, scenic waterways, and snow-capped mountains that offer access to miles of hiking trails and limitless space for wilderness pursuits, the western Canadian seaport is a fitting base for Arc’teryx, a high-performance brand for outdoor apparel and equipment. In contrast, Beijing’s endless urban sprawl might seem an odd location for one of the company’s stores. However, following China’s strict pandemic lockdowns, and spurred by the 2022 Winter Olympics hosted in the capital, the outdoor sports market has grown significantly across the country’s first-tier cities, and demand for suitable attire has kept pace.

More than simply selling clothes to both new fans and veteran enthusiasts of hiking, skiing, and rock climbing, the new Arc’teryx flagship in the trendy Sanlitun neighborhood aims at projecting the plein-air lifestyle of Canada’s Coast Mountains by translating the region’s adventure-driven attitude for Beijingers. “The store interior not only displays outdoor gear but also conveys a connection with nature,” says Eric Ch, founder of Still Young, the Shanghai-based studio assigned the project. Given the context, this decoding required a sizeable amount of imagination and a few reinvented tropes—skills the firm has honed creating a number of much-admired immersive commercial spaces. “To showcase Vancouver’s ambiance to a Chinese audience, we integrated British Columbia’s natural beauty and outdoor culture into the shop’s design, allowing customers to feel its unique essence through visual elements and material choices,” Ch continues, setting the scene.

For an Outdoor Clothing Brand, Nature Serves as Inspiration 

What’s the most recognizable symbol of nature? A tree. To Still Young, this seemed like a good place to start. The studio also wanted the interior to feel rooted (pun intended) in its location, so Ch and his team looked to arboreal interpretations by local artists to find forms that felt appropriate for the teeming metropolis. Working with these artists and a roster of skilled craftspeople, they built a fiber reinforced–plastic sculpture in the shape of an enormous, ancient tree trunk—a gnarled and twisted form that occupies the fully glazed street corner of the 9,500-square-foot, two-story store, engulfing a staircase before disappearing through the ceiling. Clearly visible from the street, the biomorphic structure gives passersby the impression that the emporium was built around a massive tree and not the other way around. This act of botanical reinterpretation, as Ch notes, “became the main source of inspiration, aiming to perfectly blend urban outdoor culture and art with the store environment.”

Biomorphic Forms and Natural Materials Add Visual Interest

Inside, where organic forms and natural-appearing materials proliferate, customers might well think they’re exploring a forest. Clad in glass fiber–reinforced concrete with a wood-effect finish, the walls and ceiling in a ground-floor room dedicated to professional apparel meld into a continuous freeform shell that gives the space the look and feel of a hollow carved into another tree. Similarly sculpted surfaces in the same material feature throughout the interior, defining grottolike fitting rooms or, finished with chalky plaster, creating an events space that resembles a rock cavern eroded by wind and water. Outfitted with sofa seating and state-of-the art audiovisual equipment, it could be a high-tech lounge from the stone age. Artificial-stone outcrops and low bleachers made from piles of what appear to be milled-timber logs are dotted throughout the open areas, creating islands for visual merchandising.

If the store interior embodies these convictions successfully, so too does the facade, which juxtaposes vast expanses of glass with slabs of FRP colored and textured to mimic striated mountain escarpments. But it’s another sculptural installation—a giant pine cone sitting on a platform in the glazed corner window as if it had just dropped from the tree above—that most succinctly captures the project’s multiple intentions and practices. While the 7-foot-tall conifer seed obviously pays homage to nature in a directly mimetic sense, it is also an artisanal object that evokes the realms of art, craft, and sustainability—the last because it’s made entirely of molded pulp from factory waste.

Walk Through the Arc’teryx Beijing Flagship

still young: dawn du; dada zhao; linda li; laura cai; mayi zhang; azel wang; ethan li; cc li; donald lin; ken tao; james xu; abel lu; asha li; douglas xu.

A Closer Look at a Trio of Optical Stores by West of West

If anyone is true to their DNA, it is Garrett Leight. His father, Larry Leight founded the esteemed eyewear brand Oliver Peoples back in 1987, now owned by Luxottica. It quickly became a cult favorite thanks to design—not only of the glasses themselves, but of their freestanding shops and sales venues such as Fred Segal (owned by Sandow). In 2010, drawing on inspiration from Leight Sr. and Venice Beach roots, Garrett started his own eponymous company, Garrett Leight California Optical, calling on his UCLA pal Jai Kumaran to give the architect’s nascent studio West of West its first project. Fast forward to present. GLCO has nine stores stretching beyond California’s borders to include Austin and Toronto. West of West, with offices in Los Angeles and Portland, has designed all except the Toronto locale, including a new trio: in Brooklyn, on Mulberry Street in Manhattan, and in the Silverlake section of Los Angeles. In one sense, they are similar. Within a restrained palette, birch plywood predominates taking form as a slatted unit custom designed with shelving and drawers for display and storage. Common, too, are on-site optical labs, the enclosures for fitting and special tinting defined by crisp white tile and tangerine-tinted glass. Yet of course shops differ given sites and locale vibes. Best of all? Two have an area dedicated to Mr. Leight, GLCO’s top-of-the-line collection created as a father-son collaboration. So, Garrett has come full circle. Let’s take a look.

3 Retail Locales Showcase Their Shared Design DNA

Inside Garrett Leight California Optical on Mulberry Street in New York 

At 1,600 square feet, the Nolita shop stands as the largest. It also gives Mr. Leight the greatest visibility via a moody, rose-colored environment calling clientele to the rear. A series of 8-foot-tall fins, clad with metal laminate below an exposed ceiling, defines the area. Meanwhile, illuminated display boxes are set within the fins. Together, these light boxes and the metallic surfaces “enhance the quality of light and shadow as one moves through the store,” comments Kumaran, who shares credit with project designer Mayola Tikaka. Along the way, customers encounter the optical lab in the center and plywood unit along one wall. About the material’s overall predominance, Kumaran calls plywood “an L.A. material at its core, coming from the lineage of the post-World War II era, and used as utilitarian in the 1950s through its use by [Frank] Gehry. I felt like it was a material to tap into and celebrate its associated craftwork.”

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Behind the Design of The Eyewear Brand’s Brooklyn Locale

GLCO occupies 1,110 square feet on the first floor of a corner commercial brick building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The big deal here is a vibrant mural by L.A.-based artist Topher Chin, seen as part of the store-through vista provided by the glass façade along Berry Street. In this project Kumaran takes plywood to new heights as upright structural components for a shelving unit running in tandem with the standard piece designed of horizontally stacked slats hugging a wall in each installation. The optical lab stands behind the display wall, and Mr. Leight is showcased as a dedicated display.

A Crystal Clear Deign Vision Takes Shape in Silverlake, Los Angeles 

Albeit not at the beach, the Silverlake, L.A. setting, a block from the ever-popular Sunset Junction, hits closest to home for Garrett. The 1960’s/‘70’s building had been renovated two years before GLCO leased its 600-square-foot space, and West of West inherited the wood-framed storefront, oxblood-colored exterior tiles, exposed wood-truss ceiling, and concrete floor. Though the limited area precluded a Mr. Leight showplace, Kumaran did create some elements unique to the site. Starting with the pivoting, aluminum-framed light box designed for inside and window graphics. “It’s like a flagpole where the square can rotate into the store or cover the glazing as signage, illuminated as a beacon at night,” he explains. As for product display, the architect introduced new elements into the mix. A freestanding glass-topped unit of painted plywood adds an option, its pop of sage green a complement to the orange glass of the optical lab stretching across the rear. Also new is an expanded collection of related merchandise, its display flexible thanks to a custom pegboard. Speaking of merchandise, we couldn’t resist questioning Kumaran about his personal pick. “I still have the original Brooks frame in champagne.” We’re green—or black or tortoiseshell—with envy.

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Odami Looks to California Modernism’s Heyday for a New Aesop

SCI-Arc founding director Ray Kappe helped create a 20th-century vernacular that came to define the Pacific Palisades, and Southern California itself, capturing its verdant landscape and dramatic terrain in architectural form. When Aesop—the minimalist beauty company known for nodding to local architecture in its various locations—decided to open a shop in those Palisades, paying tribute to Kappe was a choice as easy as the vibe of California Modernism itself.

Biophilic Design Elements Set the Tone in the Latest Aesop Locale

Cult Gaia’s New Accessory Flagship is Worthy of Devotion

While Jasmin Larian’s Los Angeles-based Cult Gaia’s apparel lines are beloved around the world, it’s the bags that have inspired obsessions worthy of its name: This winter, the brand’s cowl-neck Nano bag, with its unmistakable drape and glittering rhinestones, dangled off the shoulders of every influencer on Instagram and TikTok starlet. Now, there’s a flagship for them all to flock to, wedged into a pie-shaped lot on the corner of Melrose and North Croft in West Hollywood.

Designers Alexis Brown and the studio Anno Mille crafted the space for the ‘gram, but it’s equally stunning in real life: past a façade wrapped in beige and ivory plaster and up the stepped travertine entry, the 3,000-square-foot shop positively glistens. Both have fashionable experience—Brown has designed multiple locations for bohemian brand Ulla Johnson, along with Apiece Apart’s SoHo flagship, while Anno Mille’s Costantino di Sambuy earned his chops working on hospitality projects for Peter Marino—and it shows. The shop seems to revolve around accessories, with curved walls offering floating shelves for bags beneath circular skylights. Glass rounds top domed display tables which resemble altars. Columns define zones, and a broken arch of mirror-polish stainless steel creates a cash-wrap area.

The Material Palette Reflects Cult Gaia’s Signature Designs

That metallic aspect connects the material palette to Cult Gaia’s hardware-laden handbags. As does the ample brass, used not only for the striking, freestanding display stands for sunglasses and bags but also in the fitting rooms, where it forms custom pipe-shaped sconces and glints in details of the mirrors. Both brass and steel also appear as embellishments on the hippodrome-shaped stone floor in the shop center, which the team drew by hand and then machine-cut from six hundred unique limestone chunks.

The designers are clearly aiming for the stars here, and in a dedicated shoe room, they reach them: Pin lights in the ceiling create the Leo constellation, which just happens to be the star sign of the stars’ favorite designer, Larian herself.  

Inside the Glistening Retail Locale in Hollywood 

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Compartés Designed by Nakkash Design Studio

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

The Los Angeles chocolatier’s first Middle East location—a department store shop-in-shop that took the local firm just 90 days from concept to completion—makes the most of 150 square feet and a soaring ceiling via painted-MDF mobile displays and a 20-foot-tall, ombré-acrylic zigzag that divvies space, supports brass shelving, and multitasks as signage. Sweet!

Blue Table Chocolates Designed by Arch&Type

Buffalo, New York

The untempered crystallized form of and silky filling inside the artisan treats made and sold at the 900-square-foot shop drove its parametric “river” ceiling, a passerby-luring feature fabricated by University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning students of CNC-milled EPS foam that’s been hand-coated in plaster then painted metallic gold, a machine-meets-craft process similar to that used to produce such truffle flavors as sacre torte and blackberry mojito.

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Le Sélect Designed by Atmosphere Architects

Chengdu, China

Pure and monumental, natural stone not only inspired but is also the star material in the ethereal 7,300-square-foot volume housing women’s luxury clothing and accessories, where a sculptural spiral staircase connects the two levels, and stainless steel and glass dress up the brawn of the travertine and granite appearing throughout.

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Angel Care Pharmacy Designed by Sergio Mannino Studio

Philadelphia

This community-minded, mission-driven storefront, in a neighborhood ravaged by the opioid epidemic, was conceived as a beacon of safety, serenity, and service—concepts sensitively conveyed via the fashion-forward architectural branding agency’s collateral and interior. Note, for instance, the soothing mauve palette applied to walls, chrome-back seats, and even the compostable packaging, arrayed on Studio deForm shelving.

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Relay Designed by Muku Design Studio

Shanghai

The bookseller’s latest outpost occupies 4,000 square feet in Shanghai Hongqiao Airport, its forestlike solid-pine beams and columns crisscrossed and stacked up to 16 feet high and incorporating integral seating that provides a welcome contrast to and place to read amid the hustle and bustle of terminal T2.

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Joseph Duclos Arrives in Paris With a Timeless Boutique

Paris seems hard-pressed to need another luxury label. Still, the city has welcomed Joseph Duclos, a high-end boutique carrying a 21st-century collection of handbags and accessories with roots dating to the 18th century, when the brand was first established as a leather tannery in Lectoure and received the imprimatur of Louis XV. Today, thanks to company CEO Franck Dahan and artistic director Ramesh Nair collaborating with French designer Tristan Auer, the premier Joseph Duclos has debuted in a 4,300-square-foot environment that’s as chic as its location, steps from the Palais de l’Élysée.

“Since this is the first shop, I did it as a tailor does a suit,” begins Auer, who’s middle name could easily be luxury, having designed yachts and custom cars as well as recently revamped the Carlton Cannes hotel mere months before the annual film festival rolled out the red carpet. “My responsibility was to let people discover it.” Adds Nair, “It’s important that customers understand the technique,” referring to how each bag is handmade by a single artisan.

Behind the Design of the Joseph Duclos Boutique in Paris

Walk Through the Joseph Duclos Boutique 

FROM FRONT:

Thierry Lemaire: Sofa, Table (VIP).
Red Edition: Custom Chair (VIP), Custom Tables (perfume/candle).
living divani: sofa (perfume/candle).

THROUGHOUT:

les marbreries de la seine: marble.
tandem architecture: architect of record.
rdm: general contractor.

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Jaipur Rugs, Dubai, United Arab Emirates designed by Roar

For an entirely immersive experience, the Indian company’s own hand-knotted carpets enliven not only the floors
of the 8,400-square-foot showroom but also its walls and myriad staircases. The latter are steel covered in a gradient of color and lead down to a central hospitality area inspired by ancestral Rajasthani architecture, featuring archways and a custom table of rose-gold legs and a Tundra gray marble top etched with an intricate Jaipuri pattern.

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13 Paix, Paris designed by Laura Gonzalez, Moinard Bétaille, and Studioparisien

Joining New York and London locations, the 32,000-square-foot maison is the main “temple” to the luxury French jeweler, its six levels a place of origin and collective memory, renovated to obtain the highest grade of BREEAM certification. Three floors encompass 10 salons, which are followed by workshops, archives, and a penthouse residence, all capped by glass ceiling over an atrium conceived in the spirit of a traditional Parisian inner courtyard.

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Skypeople, Beijing designed by F.O.G. Architecture

The 2,300-square-foot shop selling ready-to-wear clothing for young professionals combines outer-space and polar-region modes, fashion and architecture into one minimalist whole through fitting rooms lit by color-changing LEDs and surfaces reminiscent of quilted coats. Randomly placed, angled mirrors are intended to change perspectives, spur
inspiration, and echo the bustling energy of urban life.

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Forte Forte, Los Angeles designed by Forte Forte

For their first U.S. outpost, cofounder Giada Forte and art director Robert Vattilana of the Italian women’s clothing, shoes, and accessories label composed a desert vista with a skylit palette reflective of locale via resin-coated flooring, limewashed brick walls, and native greenery. Brass details add Hollywood glamour, while two stacked stones, a nod to a Fischli/Weiss sculpture, were sourced in Palm Springs.

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Ceramiche Ragno, Milan designed by Benedetta Tagliabue-EMBT

Since the heritage ceramics supplier’s name means spider in Italian, the 4,300-square-foot flagship showroom is
a web of marble, cement, and stone inspiration and a kaleidoscopic sequence of rooms, with spinneret-esque wooden displays; jewel-toned tiles arranged into murals of Persian domes, Egyptian minarets, and Roman columns; and a continuous mosaic slab serving as flooring.

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Tomo Design Creates an Intriguing Emporium for MasonPrince 

The Gen Z founders of Chinese online streetwear label MasonPrince, siblings Qiusen, Qiumu, and Qiulin Zhou have always tapped into a vintage sportswear aesthetic for their men’s and women’s apparel, accessories, and shoes. But when the youthful entrepreneurs came to open the brand’s first brick-and-mortar retail store, the concept of old becoming new again took on an entirely different meaning.

Located in the hip Dongshankou district of Guangzhou, China’s third largest city, the shop is surrounded by chic boutiques and a rising artisanal coffee culture. Part of what has made the neighborhood an appealing destination for young people is its da ka quotient—a Mandarin term that literally means to card swipe or check in but is used to refer to places that are popular backdrops for selfies and social media posting—thanks to the preservation of many old Western-style redbrick houses dating from before the 1949 Communist revolution.

A Retail Locale Rich in Instagramable Moments

MasonPrince chose one of those colonial-era houses—the year of construction, 1931, displayed prominently on the roof parapet above the white columns framing the entrance—as a da ka–ready storefront. The Zhous tapped Tomo Design, a studio based in Shenzhen, the nearby boomtown from which the siblings originally hail, to transform the two-story, 5,400-square-foot property, which was being used as a law office, into a retail environment that would take customers on a figurative journey through time and space.

An Interior Design That Transcends Space and Time 

“We created a narrative with an interrupted timeline,” Tomo founder Uno Chan explains, “incorporating a design language that sets up a dialogue between the past and the future.” That dialogue is immediately apparent from the sidewalk, where the traditional Chinese entry gate has been widened and its solid wood doors replaced by a wall of 11 green-gradient glass panels—each bearing a letter spelling out the brand name—which pivot and slide back to open the front courtyard to the street. It sets the stage for the time-shifting experience awaiting inside, one that incorporates the past, present, and future as represented by the years 1931, 2023, and 2231, respectively. These three periods don’t necessarily flow together so much as crash into one another in seemingly random meetings of exposed concrete, reclaimed wood, and polished steel. No single room privileges one era over the others; rather, each is more of a mishmash in which the epochs run concurrently.

Take the reception area just beyond the front double doors, for example, where a glossy white polyethylene mannequin—Chan describes it as “a weird humanoid figure from the future”—sits behind a mid century–style desk equipped with a vintage lamp and typewriter. The surrounding raw concrete walls are partially clad with a tall, corrugated galvanized-steel dado, while the ceiling comprises a checkerboard grid of LED panels along with a large, mirrored section that reflects the wooden plank flooring below.

The Store Interior Reflects a Warehouse-Style Workplace  

The effect of this eclectic mix—the multiple stylistic vibes include retro, utilitarian, fantasy, sci-fi, industrial, vintage, and art deco—is intended to arouse curiosity in young customers who may be interacting with the brand for the first time, to give them an impression of “breaking the limits,” Chan says. “When the present and the past intertwine with each other, it can be a mysterious labyrinth or a boundless universe that invites the wildest imagination.” Though the multidimensional, time-space narrative might seem like something lifted directly out of the Star Wars saga, Chan is adamant that no particular creative work or genre inspired the store’s interiors: “We believe that the elements of the universe can bring a lot of inspiration and we don’t want realistic fragments to limit the possibilities.”

Inside MasonPrince’s Brick-and-Mortar Locale by Tomo Design

TOMO Design: fei xiao; psyun; tie; jason; poom; tin; ching ho

Miami Vibes Come to Madrid for Lady Pipa’s Retail Debut

In just five years, the Spanish ecommerce label Lady Pipa has established itself as the go-to source fashion ideal for special events. Even Queen Letizia of Spain is a fan, wearing a pink and white confection from the brand to a springtime event in the palace this year. Owned and operated by women, with designs flattering to every body type and fabrications more often than not made of sustainable viscose (and recycled polyester garments on the horizon), Lady Pipa ventures off-line and into Madrid with its first brick-and-mortar location.

Inside Lady Pipa’s Madrid Locale Designed by El Departamento

A Bedding Manufacturer’s Office Nods to Down Feathers

A Pearly White Palette Suits the BSH Headquarters