When US skincare brand Dr.Jart+ commissioned XEX Studio to create an interactive installation in Shanghai, they never could have imagined it would be this remarkable and outrageous.
There’s nothing I love more than when retailers decide to invest in extraordinary design. When every conceivable product in existence is available to us at the touch of a button, brick-and-mortar retailers need that spectacle factor to reel us punters in.
Unlike its sibling sectors like workplace, education or even hospitality, retail is an area of design where our industry can ditch the restraint and go big. We are seeing this more and more, where retailers (and the designers who work with them) are playing a fascinating game of one-ups-manship for who can create the biggest, most conceptual buzz around their brand.
It has to be major. Surprising. Sharable. Grand. Engulfing. And most importantly, connect to the essence of the client.
Designed by XEX, Prismverse is an interactive diamond-themed installation in Shanghai, created to celebrate the launch of Dr.Jart+’s Instant V7 Toning Light product.
This immersive and experiential pavilion was driven by the idea of the product itself “light” – and how light rays travel through a diamond.
This concept was realised with a 10 meter-long LED floor and the complex geometrical tessellated mirror wall, where the highly illuminated interior becomes a metaphor for the instant tone-up effect of the skin product, with the products themselves being positioned in the very centre of the space on a-symmetric plinths.
The project’s creative director Chris Cheung Hon Him explains: “The audience will be immersed in the splendours of our mother nature, ranging from the galaxy and distant stars, rare gemstones, glistens of flowing water and refracted light beams. These resemble the brightening, moisturizing, protective and vitalizing effects of the product once applied on skin.”
In addition to viewing the product, visitors are immersed in a soundscape of alternating colours and dizzying patterns. And as an added layer to the overall concept, XEX has built-in a bespoke and strategically directional soundscape, produced in collaboration with local audio-philes Sonihouse to soak the space with an intangible atmosphere.
This is the future of retail, and it’s a future well worth investing in!
Can’t make it to Shanghai? Never mind – you can experience the space with the below video!
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
Journey alongside Australian designer Ross Didier as he introduces a new chapter in the magical folklore of his iconic FABLE Collection.
Channelling the enchanting ambience of the Caffè Greco in Rome, Budapest’s historic Gerbeaud, and Grossi Florentino in Melbourne, Ross Didier’s new collection evokes the designer’s affinity for café experience, while delivering refined seating for contemporary hospitality interiors.
Winners of The Social Space category in the 2023 INDE.Awards, RooMoo Design Studio has made its mark on the Shanghai’s hospitality landscape with a new restaurant design.
This executive lounge and Chinese restaurant in the Shangri-La Qiantan draws sumptuously from the architecture of Shanghai Shikumen houses.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
Designed to drive positive change, promote sustainable practices and cultivate inclusive communities, the recent launch of the Parliamentary Friends of Australian Design will champion the role of urban design in shaping the nation’s identity.
Beau Fulwood and Alison Peach on returning to a low-tech, first-principles concept of design as a strategy to combat climate change.
Esoteriko has embodied a new lease on beauty within Double Bay’s latest cosmetic clinic, overlayed with modern eclecticism.
Explore the future of cancer treatment at the Australian Bragg Centre, where a revolutionary design by Woods Bagot integrates cutting-edge proton therapy with patient-centric features, including natural light and adaptive Verosol blinds, creating a space that merges innovation and empathy for a holistic healing journey.