Designers Had Just 4 Months to Complete the First Flagship for This Fashion Brand

RECENTLY OPENING ITS first brick-and-mortar flagship in the fashion epicenter Sanlitun, an area in the Chaoyang District in Beijing, digitally native brand Ponhu’s 12,916-square-foot space (1200 square meters) was hard to come by, and even harder to design in a four-month timeline. Aiming to alter the negative connotation “secondhand” sometimes has in China, according to the co-founders of Unfoldesign (Beijing), Ponhu’s posh interior serves as a “transit station” for luxury goods.

“Our goal was to downplay the ‘secondhand’ aspect of Ponhu and personify Ponhu as a connoisseur of fashion and lifestyle,” says Joseph Chieng, Co-Founder of Unfoldesign (the firm responsible for the store’s design), explaining the name “Ponhu” was inspired by the brand owner’s cat. “This led us to designing a creative space of how we imagined Ponhu lives his life.”

Five themed zones (dubbed Civil Culture, Precision Manufacturing, Entertainment, Glimpse of the Future and Spiritual [Fortress]) aim to enhance the customer experience in store, each tailored to a various type of consumer. “Our intended purpose, different from other luxury brands, was to create a sea of products, which we hoped [would] downplay the affordability of these products,” says Queena Qiao, Co-Founder of Unfoldesign.

The themed zones work to funnel shoppers toward the back of the space where along their journey they’ll encounter limited edition products, watches and jewelry, a VIP salon and recycling booths. Each zone features a distinct aesthetic, especially the Entertainment Zone which focuses on art and uses collectible toys paired with “floating bags” to draw attention. Another standout is the Civil Culture zone with eye-catching lightboxes and dense shelving which represents crisscrossing roads.

Due to the popularity of claw machines in the local area, references like mechanized arms and floating merchandise are plentiful.

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On the store’s exterior, a mechanical window display attracts passersby with its constantly rotating patterns and movements that change with the time of day.

Ponhu also offers “store streaming,” a literal livestream allowing customers to shop between 11 p.m. to roughly 3 or 4 a.m., after the physical store has closed for the day. Amplifying the streaming experience is a unique backdrop with spatial depth that displays the goods.

In order to create a more seamless transition between its online and offline experience, Ponhu collects analytical data and utilizes tech like online remote management, hot spot circulation sensors and customer counting – all of which play into future product merchandising. — Sara Wilson

PHOTO GALLERY (7 IMAGES)
?: Unfoldesign, Beijing