EP YAYING Shanghai Flagship Store | Franklin Azzi

Architect Franklin Azzi collaborated with creative director Serge Ruffieux in bringing together a vision to create a meeting space and creative collaboration on a new architectural concept for the Chinese ready-to-wear label, EP YAYING. The name EP YAYING itself has the meaning of 'quality promise' which is then elaborated further in the store design concept.

Reflecting the label's iconic approach to the renaissance of luxury goods and Chinese heritage, these two Parisian creatives use Oriental cultural references and skills to define a new contemporary aesthetic. This creative tandem collaboration of Franklin Azzi and Serge Ruffieux has given rise to a unique space program dedicated to visitors to experience firsthand and stroll. From Shanghai to New York, this design fosters an oxymoron in every detail.

The raw materials are chosen in this design also exude an elegant and classy local beauty. Materials such as jade and concrete combine with the elegance of lacquer work and embroidery. Between a mix of rough and smooth surfaces, matte and gloss colors, a traditional blend of Chinese handcrafted materials, the designs of these boutiques express their uniqueness which is shown in a play of contrasts between striking simplicity and maximalism.

The building's collection of fashion and accessories is displayed around a graphic lattice structure of gold metal tubes. In this area, rough stone slabs of different shapes and colors are displayed by hanging or holding them, much like an interior landscape that reinforces the impression of a poetic antithesis between the different elements used in the design.

Boutique architecture, whether within new or existing buildings, such as a completely renovated old colonial house in Shanghai, emphasizes some important aspects, such as transparency, opening to the outside, and blending with nature. The fashion label space blends with the public sphere in a fluid sophistication principle.

From floor to ceiling, through furniture and dressing rooms designed as transition spaces and exhibition spaces in dialogue with the overall scheme, Franklin Azzi, and Serge Ruffieux have devised an unconventional journey, comprising both aesthetic and sensory resonance. This project can also act as a vehicle for architects and fashion designers to bring modernity and craftsmanship into dialogue in an original approach that sees each new YAYING EP boutique as a place in itself.