Gentle Monster

[GeneChing]

i can't grok this. Can any Korean or UK members help? Really - WTH?

Martial arts: Gentle Monster opens a kung fu-fighting London boutique
FASHION / 30 JUL 2018 / BY LAURA HAWKINS


Seoul-based opticals label Gentle Monster has opened its first European flagship in London

INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Gentle Monster website

ADDRESS
28-29 Argyll Street, London W1F 7EB

Every three minutes on the ground floor of a boutique on Argyll Street in Central London, a large gong sounds. The sound of its tremors reverberate around the space, causing the arms of mop-haired and pinecone-like warrior aliens to jolt into life. Extraterrestrial invasion? Science-fiction fantasy? Or the latest larger-than-human-life retail concept of Seoul-based opticals label Gentle Monster.

‘We were thinking about tiny alien beings obsessed with kung fu,’ explains the brand’s managing director Gary Bott, of the London store’s retail concept. Gentle Monster is renowned for its innovative and imaginative approach to store design. Cue a harvest-inspired outpost in Downtown LA, complete with a gentle undulating rice field, a folklore-focused boutique in Guangzhou, China or a Singapore space inspired by the philosophy of Nietzsche.

For its two-floor martial arts extravaganza in London, Gentle Monster imagined a ground floor space populated by warrior aliens, their armoured bodies constructed from undulating fronds of raffia, weaved panels of fabric and mirrored metal. Downstairs on the lower ground floor sit rows of tiny armed aliens, their limbs too limited for battle, and their minds controlling the extraterrestrial troops upstairs.

For each space, Gentle Monster create a unique multisensory environment, complete with a fragrance and soundscape. Amongst the rows of the label’s signature flat and two-tone styles – manufactured in the brand’s Korean and Chinese factories – customers are also greeted by a battlefield surrounded by shrub-like forms, rows of cheering aliens clutching glittering pom poms, and even an alien hall of fame of the planet’s most fearsome fighters. Kapow! §


The Argyll Street location imagines a planet inhabited by kung fu-performing aliens


The lower ground floor comes complete with an alien battlefield


The two floor space showcases the South Korean brand’s signature two tone and flat lens styles


Rows of sunglasses are surrounded by blob-like cheerleading aliens

[GeneChing]

...some of the same pix, I know. They clearly requires closer examination.

larger-than-life aliens practice their kung fu skills in gentle monster's london store

known for its extravagant shop designs and immersive installations, seoul-based eyewear brand gentle monster has now expanded its physical retail to central london. occupying a two-floor space in soho’s argyll street, the store’s design concept involves a multisensory experience that combines influences from the earth practice of kung fu with creatures from outer space.



upon entering gentle monster‘s london store, visitors are met with a tribe of extraterrestrial warrior creatures, practicing their martial arts in a sequence of scenes spread across the two floors. developed by the brand’s in-house team, the interior concept sees the corner of argyll street transformed into a training ground for the alien beings, composed of kinetic installations, digital waterfalls and a ceremonial gong.



each space in the store captures a unique, multisensory scene where the larger-than-life creatures, made of weaved fabric, raffia, and metal panels, take center stage. in a much less extravagant manner, the brand’s sunglasses find their way within the alien planet, placed in subtle, geometric displays or among all-white, cheering aliens of miniature sizes with glittering pom poms on their hands.

i guess this author's cap key is broken...