Spanish fashion house LOEWE has had a boutique at Jing’an Kerry Centre in Shanghai since 2013, but has dramatically upgraded its presence, opening the doors of Casa LOEWE, its flagship retail concept. The flagship store’s physical presence is nothing short of remarkable, given the fact that the store façade is clad in heaps and heaps of gold-coloured enamelled bricks – mind you, the exact number is 35,536 – and all hand-crafted by Barcelona-based studio Ceràmica Cumella. Needless to say, it’s a bold reference to gold’s meaning of ‘good luck’ in China. The new and bigger location at the shopping centre measures a whopping 695 sqm. (7,481 sq.ft.) and features an interior design created by LOEWE‘s creative director Jonathan Anderson and the brand’s in-house design team in Madrid. The enamelled bricks extend throughout the premises in an alluring variety of hues, including white, brown, orange, green, and yes, also gold. The abundance of coloured bricks not only infuse a playful visual element, but also enhance illumination by the natural light that floods in through various transparent walls.

The palette of the various store settings is complemented by other warm natural materials, such as marble, brass, and oak. Similar to other LOEWE retail spaces, the store is dotted with a tightly curated collection of furnishings and objects. Gerrit Rietveld’s chunky Utrecht armchairs are paired with George Nakashima‘s Mira chairs and dark brown walnut Conoid cushion chairs. A seemingly floating stone table by Axel Vervoordt sits in conversation with LOEWE’s burnt wood podiums and black terrazzo tables. Also to be found here are six colour-infused bespoke wool rugs feature reproductions of British textile artist John Allen’s bright, bucolic tapestries, while works by British ceramists John Ward and Mo Jupp, and also paintings by Ken Price Indian artist Mahesh Baliga further add to the refined artistic in-store atmosphere. The new Casa LOEWE store carries the full range of women’s and men’s apparel, accessories, bags, shoes, small leather goods, eyewear and fragrances. © superfuture