A Boutique Store Awash with Fluidity

Located in Hangzhou, China, this boutique store designed by MMC Design and led by award-winning Chen Linping, encapsulates the brand concept of Yinno Unico, designed to showcase contemporary females’ spirit of self-growth in multiple dimensions. To create a space overflowing with the divinity of goddesses, the design team drew on the breathtaking primitive strength of the Parthenon dedicated to goddess Athena and the Pyramids.

The triangular and rectangular forms of the Parthenon and the Pyramids are brought into the boutique store, showing geometric changes while producing a certain order. The geometric aesthetics expresses human respect for nature.

The store’s entrance features curved walls, circular lines inscribed on the floor, and a rock at the centre. And the light, like a piece of gauze, streams in gently from the sunken ceiling along round structural edges, filling the space with a tranquil atmosphere.

Curved walls that separate yet connect various functional areas in the store are inspired by Joma Sipe’s works, which portray geometry and order on the canvas and show the form of endless cycles. The design of this space is an implication of life philosophy to some extent.

In the boutique store, the staircase is a bridge connecting the first and second storey, and offers people a journey of self-exploration as they walk on it. Stairs are deliberately enlarged to form a visual focus.

The designers resorted to light to unveil nature in this geometric, non-natural space, and to produce an artistic ambience. The flutes of ancient Greek temple’s Doric columns are incorporated into structures, furniture and space in the form of gaps. Light penetrates those gaps, and touches the interior finishes that simulate the textures of Pentelic marbles used in the construction of the Parthenon, seeming to tell the story of the past. The light that passes through the spatial axis creates a dialogue transcending past, present and future, whilst endowing the space with vitality.

Natural lighting highlights the fabrics of clothes, ceramic-like spatial textures and the red arc-shaped steel island. Hues, textures and materials contrast yet integrate beautifully all at once. Using geometric structures, the design team successfully creates an immersive emotional experience in this visually-engaging boutique store.