{"id":113283,"date":"2015-04-24T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-24T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/projects\/standing-out-from-the-crowd-yabu-pushelberg-s-thai-approach-at-siwilai\/"},"modified":"2023-06-30T14:12:21","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T18:12:21","slug":"standing-out-from-the-crowd-yabu-pushelberg-s-thai-approach-at-siwilai","status":"publish","type":"id_project","link":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/projects\/standing-out-from-the-crowd-yabu-pushelberg-s-thai-approach-at-siwilai\/","title":{"rendered":"Yabu Pushelberg’s Thai Approach at Siwilai"},"content":{"rendered":"

For select global citizens, luxury shopping has become a contact sport. They flit from one capital to the next, finding their footing with familiar brands, which display essentially the same merchandise worldwide\u2014think Stella McCartney or Louis Vuitton. Globetrotting Interior Design<\/em> Hall of Fame members George Yabu<\/a> and Glenn Pushelberg<\/a> know a thing or two about luxury, too, though they prefer to shop outside the bubble. For them, the thrill of a new destination is its bounty of local discoveries to write home about.<\/p>\n

Of late, the pair have been shuttling back and forth from Toronto and New York to Bangkok, where they\u2019re completing interiors for the luxe Park Hyatt. It won\u2019t debut until next year, leaving plenty of time to explore the city\u2019s adventurous design scene and cuisine, which they\u2019re already extolling. Meanwhile, in the podium at the base of the hotel, the Central Embassy shopping mall has opened. Its Yabu Pushelberg\u2013designed concept store, Siwilai<\/a>, reflects their impressions, perhaps offering a taste of what\u2019s to come upstairs.<\/p>\n

\"a
A central passage can become roomlike when panels of primed artist\u2019s canvas, framed in wood-veneered steel, pivot inward. Photography by Dennis Lo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An adaptation of the English word civilized<\/em>, Siwilai is all about world-class shopping with a local flavor. Design-wise, the store is certainly a far cry from big-name fellow tenants. \u201cIt\u2019s a counterpoint to what everybody else is doing,\u201d Pushelberg says. He calls the aesthetic \u201ca little bit raw.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related:<\/p>\n

7 Simply Amazing Retail Destinations in Asia<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Yabu Pushelberg’s Design for Canada Olympic House in Rio Teems with Country Pride<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The storefront owes its distinctive concave shape to the lease line of the mall corridor. But everything else about the entry is a departure from the surroundings. The detailing of the three sets of tall doors, monumental slabs of local teak, conveys a welcome sense of place. They were milled without benefit of computerized tools, now ubiquitous in Asia, then carved with a distinctive hatched pattern that has become an essential part of the store\u2019s branding. \u201cYou can feel that the timber was handcrafted, and they didn\u2019t finish it with spray lacquer,\u201d Pushelberg notes. \u201cYou can always tell the difference when things are done by hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"shoes
Ottomans\u2019 cushions are covered in a rattan fabric edged with silk-wrapped cording, while skirting below is a cotton-linen. Photography by Dennis Lo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Inside the 8,900-square-foot space is a carefully curated roster of international niche labels of women\u2019s and men\u2019s clothing and accessories. As with any concept store worthy of the name, there\u2019s also a constantly changing collection of crafts, gadgets, vinyl records, and style books. Any of the above can be showcased in the very first area that shoppers encounter. Conceived as a sort of town square, with the various departments arrayed around it market-style, this central zone is defined by parallel runs of full-height shojilike screens\u2014the typical paper replaced by artist\u2019s canvas primed with a gesso finish. \u201cSo there\u2019s a softness to them,\u201d Pushelberg says. The screens at the ends can pivot inward 90 degrees, transforming a\u00a0corridor into a box. That means it’s possible to accommodate a runway show one week, a pop-up shop the next.<\/p>\n

Related:<\/em><\/p>\n

The Pump Room Gang: Yabu Pushelberg Renovates the Public Chicago’s Iconic Restaurant<\/a><\/p>\n

Simply Amazing: 30 Global Retail Spaces<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

If the panels are in the open position, it\u2019s easy to proceed straight ahead to the shoe department, set apart by curved mahogany dividers that incorporate shelving. Bucking longstanding retail convention, the whole display is fixed in place. \u201cFlexibility is overrated,\u201d Pushelberg proclaims. Yabu adds, \u201cWe sometimes go through all the trouble of making something flexible, and the store never actually changes it.\u201d Need to try on a stiletto sandal? A large ottoman is shaped to recall the outline of a footprint in the sand\u2014a smaller, round ottoman represents the big toe, visual pun intended. The seat cushions are covered in rattan fabric edged with robust cording wrapped in Thai silk.<\/p>\n

\"A
A sunglasses display helps to camouflage a structural column. \u00a0Photography by Dennis Lo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Not that Yabu and Pushelberg completely eschewed the sort of crisp contemporary detailing prevalent in international luxury retail. They painted the ceiling matte gray to act as a contrast to the dazzlingly white canopies suspended over most departments. An entirely different paint effect, in striated red, is found in one corner. \u201cAs you walk through the store, you encounter these surprises,\u201d Pushelberg says. He and Yabu asked a decorative painting studio back home in Toronto to work up a sample of the loosely rendered vertical stripes for the Thai artisans to emulate.<\/p>\n

The Thai vernacular unabashedly returns in the caf\u00e9. Tables were designed to resemble picnic furniture. Overhead, the canopy was inspired by the roofs of Bangkok\u2019s vaunted shop-houses, the small family-run eateries with their owners living upstairs. Siwilai\u2019s version is a gable of corrugated steel painted with a riotous patchwork of bright colors. Meanwhile, Yabu notes, the tile mosaics on the end walls combine \u201cinteresting, typically institu-tional colors like pea green and mustard.\u201d Take that, Stella and Louis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The duo behind Interior Design Hall of Fame firm Yabu Pushelberg takes a distinctly Thai approach to luxury fashion at Siwilai, a concept store in Bangkok.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3547,"featured_media":113287,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"featured_image_focal_point":[],"legacy_django_id":10247},"tags":[],"id_tax_domain":[17],"id_tax_product":[],"id_tax_program":[],"id_issue":[],"internal_flag":[4220],"class_list":["post-113283","id_project","type-id_project","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","id_tax_domain-retail"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nYabu Pushelberg's Thai Approach at Siwilai<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The duo behind Interior Design Hall of Fame firm Yabu Pushelberg takes a distinctly Thai approach to luxury fashion at Siwilai, a concept store in Bangkok.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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