Situated roughly a two-hour flight away southwest of Hong Kong, the tropical island of Hainan is a favourite holiday destination of China’s well-heeled urbanites. As they’re known to continue to spend while letting their hair down, Chongqing-based fashion retailer SND – mind you, we’ve one of its boutiques in a previous post – decided to follow its clientele and set up shop on the island. But not just anywhere, of course not. The boutique has opened on the premises of The Sanya EDITION, a design-led luxury hotel on the island’s south coast. Occupying a 240 sqm. (2,583 sq.ft.) unit in the hotel’s newly inaugurated commercial area on the ground floor, the SND store features an interior design by Shenzhen-based architecture practice Various Associates. Unsurprisingly, the interior design has drawn inspiration from the local surf scene, and in fact, it’s the location’s huge waves that have led to what the store looks like. The all-white retail space sees four elongated volumes organised in an increasing gradation of height and creating different display zones along the way.
Upon entering the SND boutique, shoppers encounter a 15-metre sales and jewellery counter which forms the smallest wave. The taller volumes behind it are in fact less massive as they seem, revealing recessed display areas with suspended clothing racks, lamp boards and mirrors, and even a storage space at the back. Special attention has been given to the ceiling which features a bespoke light installation comprising a metal grid overlaid with thin wire which lends the setting a distinct urban edge. Interestingly, the brick flooring outdoor continues indoors, and combined with the concrete support pillars, it offers a subtle raw contrast to the abundance of polished surfaces. The new SND store has brought an urban sense of style to the holiday island as it stocks a similarly curated collection of forward brands from home and abroad like its sister establishments on the mainland, including coveted names such as Xander Zhou, Dries Van Noten, Mikio Sakabe, Deepmoss, Marni, Coperni and Wooyoungmi.
SND
The Sanya EDITION, 100 Haitang Bei Lu (Haitang Bay Town)
572013 Sanya
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.
