I was reminded of a Valentine's Day themed design project I did for beauty shop HARMAY years ago.
We met up with the founders of Harmay in a beautiful conference room at the Shangri-La Hotel in Shanghai. HARMAY has already made a name for itself with its unique shop design and retail experience, and this meeting was about a Valentine's Day themed shop design. The meeting was relaxed and fun, and the two founders had a clear idea of what they wanted to do for Valentine's Day: "We don't want the traditional theme of love, which is not just chocolates and flowers, but also arguing and slamming plates. Think more about all different kinds of love."
It gives us a fresh perspective and breaks down the usual clichés about expressions of love.
In today's fast-paced life, material things are plentiful, but the more love becomes scarce and easy to lose. When a relationship shows signs of wear and tear, it's easy to give up. In the age of digital technology, is it possible to mass produce love?
We came up with a bold design idea: the entire façade of the building was designed as a love construction job site, with trained robotic arms welding heart devices. Inside, in the open space, there are piles of 3D printed hearts in the corner, and on the other side are two production lines, one for breaking and one for repairing, conveying piles of broken hearts into a belt for repair.
We envisioned the process of love as a constant cycle of going through the stages of production, breaking, repair and then repeating.
Loving each other is a simple thing, talking about the heartwarming moments makes one's heart melt. And when relationship enter stability, experiencing the day-to-day life, and love is no longer just a flowery moment, will love still make your heart flutter then? This is the question behind the design that I hope to make people think.
This concept resonates deeply with the philosophy of HARMAY, which embraces love in all its forms.
I can't believe that so many years have passed since that wonderful experience. Unfortunately, the design later stayed at the concept stage due to various factors and influences by then. In our opinion, HARMAY is an very unique brand and this design idea is very interesting.
Thus, in our recent design podcast,we've also chosen this brand, to delve into their brand development and shop design, which introduces a refreshingly experiential approach to retail design.
On Valentine's Day, may we all enjoy in the sweetness of love, but also embrace its complexities.
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CREDITS
PROJECT NAME: (PBR)r
TYPE: Valentine's Day decorations installations
DESIGN: Antonio Minonne / Abdulkader Baradi
CLIENT: HARMAY
STATUS: Concept
LOCATION: Shanghai / Chengdu / Beijing (CHINA)
