GINLEE Studio

The Ginlee Studio store is designed to be a quiet respite from the city, with soft lines and a palette of off whites, pebble wash, and accents of wood and stainless steel. An inviting “outdoor” courtyard with lush greenery, bathed in a diffused white glow, forms the focal point of the store, drawing the eye of the visitor inwards as she enters. A workshop table, composed of abstract volumes is situated on one side of the store, facing a sinuous wall overhanging the folded clothing rails on the other. Known for their pleated garments, the store not only sells their ready to wear collection, but also offers a first-of-its-kind pleated-to-order service for a selected range of products, with the aim to reduce wastage by only producing items upon request, thereby minimising surplus stock at the end of a season. A customer may select the colour and size of a certain product which is then hand pleated and finished on site using the built-in steamer, with the finished product ready to collect within a short time. The customer is encouraged to stand counter-side to observe the pleating process, or sit down at the courtyard area to enjoy the greenery while waiting for the requested product to be finished.

The brief given to us was to design a clothing retail store that incorporates a workshop space for the on-site pleating service being offer by Ginlee Studio. Garments and other products will be pleated to-order in the shop and be ready for collection within a short timeframe, with the aim to reduce wastage and the redundancy of merchandise at the end of a season. The process of pleating is to be showcased to the customer allowing a better appreciation of a piece of garment by linking the production process to the final product. A pleating table, tool racks and a built in pleat steamer is to be part of this process. Aesthetically, the clients wanted the store to have elements of that links back Singapore and Tel Aviv, from which the couple who runs Ginlee Studio originates.

We wanted to invoke the kind of spaces that are found in the tropical and subtropical climes of Singapore and Tel Aviv — think open courtyard spaces within traditional buildings and the interstitial spaces around those courtyards that are neither indoors nor outdoors, with lush greenery to further push the "outdoor" quality of the spaces, creating a visual break for the customer. The overall vibe is clean and pared back. The space shouldn’t overwhelm the clothes or the pleating workshop area. The palette consists of mainly off-whites with grey pebble-wash, typically used outdoors, accent of stainless steel and wood. Since the brand is known for its pleated garments, we wanted to subtly suggest the idea of pleating by introducing folded or bent details within some of the elements, like in the series of custom stainless steel clothing racks and also in the geometry of the walls around the store.

The store design proposes a different approach to the contemporary retail space; rather than a space purely geared towards hawking products to the customer, it aims to connect customers with the production of the garments, to instil the value of the craft and hand work that goes into each item; it also provides space for a pause, a visual break from the merchandise and a moment of contemplation for the customer punctuating the journey of acquiring an item from GINLEE Studio. This is a new kind of luxury, a quiet luxury.

GINLEE Studio by Hon Kit Leong in Singapore won the WA Award Cycle 37. Please find below the WA Award poster for this project.