A renowned Spanish fashion designer has opened its new flagship store in one of central Shanghai’s most popular residential areas, featuring a noteworthy tile-filled exterior.
Famous for its designer bags, shoes and other accessories, LOEWE’s new store in Jing ’An combines accessories for sale with fine art installations to give the new Casa LOEWE store an unusual ‘art gallery’ aesthetic.
Casa Loewe’s new store sports a façade made up of 35,546 golden ceramic tiles. While the store’s monolithic, rectangular shape seeks to harmonize with the surrounding buildings, its golden tiles contrast strongly with the glass façades of nearby structures.
The choice of tiles is inspired by the history of the neighbourhood. The nearby Buddhist temple, destroyed during the cultural revolution, was initially rebuilt as a functioning temple in 1983, with many additions and alterations over the following years. The temple, a cultural icon that gives its name to the local district, is noted for its golden roofs. These roofs inspired the textured, rippling surfaces of the ceramic tiles covering the new store. The reflective tiles react and respond to the sunlight, with patterns and effects shifting as the light moves and changes during the day.
The tiles were produced by Barcelona-based Studio Cumella, using natural materials sourced from the mountains of eastern Spain. The textured surfaces of the tiles aim to bear similarities to the folded leather used in some of LOEWE’s fashion accessories and provide both contrast and harmony within its Downtown Shanghai surroundings.
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