August 2, 2019

Text: Jesse Dorris

I IN Creates a New World for Guangzhou Fashion Brand Gloria

The Guangzhou Gloria concept store’s façade announces the theme of starlit skies. Photography by Tomooki Kengaku.

Introducing a new brand takes a world of effort. For the women’s fashion house Gloria, which needed to introduce itself to Guangzhou—Hong Kong’s stylish neighbor, which is home to the famed Zaha Hadid-designed opera house and Canton TV skyscraper—the effort was in fact world-making.

“We wanted to make a strong impact as much as possible at the entrance,” says Japanese design firm I IN’s Yohei Terui, who with co-partner Hiromu Yuyama, designed the 3,120-square-foot, two-floor space. A globular chandelier shines at the entrance, with a horizon of light serving as a wayfinder across the walls below an illustrated planetary map. Bent wooden hangers bring to mind ship masts while adding a touch of warmth to the high-gloss tiled floors.

I IN devised a display of images, backlit with LED, to tell the brand’s history. Photography by Tomooki Kengaku.

 

The voyage ends at the darkened VIP rooms in back, glittering with constellations of lights and deep banquettes for travelers to rest upon. “We wanted to reveal the brand with a concept of a voyage and a starlit sky,” says Terui. Mission accomplished.

A custom chandelier hangs like a globe at the entrance of Gloria’s Guangzhou shop. Photography by Tomooki Kengaku.
A scattering of lights conjure a night sky in the VIP room at Gloria in Guangzhou. Photography by Tomooki Kengaku.
The illustrator Chalkboy created the graphics, which reinterpret a map of the world. Photography by Tomooki Kengaku.
Fitting rooms at the Gloria shop in Guangzhou are essentially blank canvases for the clothes. Photography by Tomooki Kengaku.

Read more: Kokaistudios Builds a City for Assemble by Réel’s Shanghai Concept Store

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