SKP-S, Beijing

It’s a department store, but not as you know it!

Luxury shopping centre SKP has teamed up with cult Korean optical brand Gentle Monster to reinvent the department store, with a destination that embraces art, technology and fashion.

SKP-S Beijing is a surreal, art-driven, alternative vision of luxury department-store-meets-shopping mall. Known as an innovator that constantly reinvents itself, SKP called upon Sybarite, as well as the creative disruptors behind Korean cult eye-wear brand Gentle Monster, to design the new SKP-S Beijing concept. The result is pure ‘Curetail’ aka ‘Curated Retail’.

The concept is designed as an art gallery style destination, with changing themes and a curated mix of beauty, fashion, shoes and food. SKP-S makes use of Gentle Monster’s fantastical storytelling to take visitors on a curious, simulated journey from Earth to Mars.

The concept follows a single overarching story, making the space a journey of discovery. By opening up the façades of the luxury brand stores, they have created open space for customers to explore. In this way, SKP-S transitions from a mall full of individual shops into a cohesive department store.

Intersecting communal spaces are filled with curated art installations, exhibiting curiosities and automata that transport visitors into another world.

The four-storey 27,000m² store is located in Chaoyang business district opposite the original SKP flagship. Targeting local office staff, they have relocated SKP-S’s hospitality offer to the basement, adjacent to the subway station, which has helped draw workers into the store.

SKP-S’s ‘department store’ has been designed as a living building that will evolve naturally over time, keeping SKP ahead in the ultra-competitive Chinese market.