VERA WANG & CHOW TAI FOOK FINE JEWELRY K11 SHOP | One plus partnership

In traditional Chinese culture, the jade seal is an important heirloom with inheritance significance. The seal represents the rights and integrity of not just individuals, families, but even nations. Therefore, the meaning behind the seal carries a long and glorious history in China. When we were brainstorming the design concept for this new Chow Tai Fook 2-storey brand new store in Hong Kong, we immediately associated the heritage meaning behind jewelry and seal - this design theme helps us to accentuate the precious and inherited value of jewelry.

We decorated the facade on the first floor, which faces the street with grids of vertical bars that are perpendicular to the ground and spread along the wall. The protruding heights of these vertical bars vary. We used linear lighting to brighten up some areas, so to outline this ‘transformative’ three-dimensional wall. Such an uneven surface does not only remind people of the characteristics of the seals, but also the invention of the ancient Chinese letterpress printing. We picked red colours for two reasons - the seals in the old days are always stamped in red and also it is the brand colour. Red is such a bold and striking colour, which draws customers’ attention easily and differentiate itself from the shops nearby.

Right at the entrance wall of the first floor, you can already see the added artful touch of the design of Chinese characters of the brand name ‘Chow Tai Fook’. The characters were extracted for re-creation and enclosed by a square frame individually. This has distinguished itself from the traditional brand logo and reminded people of how seals were stamped on the paper in the old days - each Chinese character was restricted to a square frame. The outlines of the characters also highlight the wall, making it more three-dimensional, as if the underside of a seal was printed on paper. The jewellery-display counters inside the shop are in cubic shapes, just like the boxes for storing seals. These cubic boxes can display not only Chow Tai Fook's jewellery, but also the sculptures we specifically designed.

Red and gray are the main color tones in the store. In a sea of gray squares, there’s a row of red squares to draw customer’s attention. The pattern of the carpet was inspired by the re-creation of the Chinese characters ‘Chow Tai Fook’. Customers can spot the reinterpretation of the brand name from the carpet pattern, as if the three Chinese characters ‘Chow Tai Fook’ were being ‘stamped’ on the carpet like a traditional jade seal.

When you reach the second floor, you can immediately detect a very different design style in black and white. This floor is divided into 2 zones, the black side showcases the unique collaboration collection of Chow Tai Fook and Vera Wang, the world-renowned bridal gowns fashion designer based in New York; the white side is for the diamond brand T MARK.

In order to reflect the sleek, chic and modern design of Vera Wang’s work, we have also chosen a minimalistic design approach for this area. Every material is carefully chosen - the black hairline finish steel, the black tables with intriguing white patterns. It’s all so simple yet unique, which can also draw the customer’s attention towards the eye-catching jewelry itself. The soft carpet on the floor creates a comforting feeling, which balances the surrounding elements with such a strong character.   

We use large-scale of black and white colors to create a strong and interesting contrast. Minimalistic linear lightings highlight the layering of the larger colour spaces to create an intense visual impact. Everything in the T MARK zone is related to diamonds - each T MARK diamond is inscribed with a traceable code that records the important details. We have especially drawn the unique features of diamonds, e.g cutting surfaces, light reflections and put these details throughout the interior space.

The white artificial stones on the floor echo with the simple and modern style of the overall space. On the display counter, we use metal plates to re-imagine a diamond-like shape after cutting. This sharp and clean lined design captures the youth vibe and the purity of the jewelry. The chair legs are also a resemblance of the diamond surfaces. It is a completely different design approach in comparison to the first floor, which targets different audiences.