The cleverly designed J1M5 boutique undoubtedly is one of the most versatile retail spaces we’ve seen this year. Newly opened, it’s situated at Hisense Plaza, arguably the most prominent shopping centre in the Chinese coastal boomtown of Qingdao. Being an multi-brand fashion store carrying a curated selection of high-end Chinese and international brands, frequent overseas travel is essential for staff members, and quite interestingly so, the store design, created by Shenzhen-based architecture practice Various Associates, takes a suitcase as a starting point. This has resulted in an austere open space, featuring a coffered ceiling with inlaid moving tracks which allows an endless range of configurations for the no less than 16 monolithic cabinets. Obviously, the cabinets represent the aforementioned suitcase, and if you ask us, each one is a bit of a marvel. The ingenious design allows the cabinets to rotate 360 degrees at horizontal level, and as such, any adjustment of a single cabinet – mind you, the cabinets can also be combined and connected – could modify the look of the entire retail space.
The four display cabinets at the entrance have the same features, but can also be flexibly arranged. Needless to say, with so much versatility readily available, the cabinets have been meticulously designed to facilitate this. The external sides are available to hang stainless steel clothes rails, maximising the display area while the interior can be used for storage. As said, the cabinets can be combined and shift among different modes according to operation needs of the client. Each cabinet can serve for displaying a single brand, or be used as an independent show window. Opposite the J1M5 store entrance, on the other side of the retail space, a cashier’s desk, V.I.P. Room and fitting room can be found, as well as displays adorned with LED screens presenting shoes and accessories. Wedged in between slanting walls clad in slabs of mirror is a seating area furnished with sofas where clients can sit back in between power shopping sprees. J1M5 has a fashion-forward focus, and as such, it carries a tightly curated range of brands with innovative silhouettes, including 3.1 Philip Lim, SHUSHU/TONG, Nanushka, We11done, LE17SEPTEMBRE, MM6, eenk and LOW CLASSIC.
J1M5
Hisense Plaza, 50 Donghai Xi Lu
266004 Qingdao
Publishers Note
Just to be clear – superfuture® is a design blog and not a political commentator. No surprise there. The scope of our content has always been global and borderless, however that can often mean covering projects in countries where we will not agree with the politics or actions of those countries. In a world that’s as screwed up as ever right now, the focus of our support is to those designers, architects and other creatives who aim to make the world a more liveable one – as opposed to people that try their hardest to destroy it. So if a project hits our desk and we like it based on its design credentials, we may choose to publish regardless of its location or creators nationality. superfuture® has always been inclusive and hopes for all current wars, aggression, violence, hate and extremism to end.
