Our debut store in China has opened within Réel Mall in Shanghai’s Jing’an district. The new store showcases Studio Nicholson’s women’s and men’s ready-to-wear and accessories collections, in a space that represents an evolution of the new store concept, first introduced in London’s Redchurch Street and Marylebone Lane openings in 2025.
For Shanghai, Founder and Creative Director, Nick Wakeman sought to elevate to a more luxurious concept and further articulate the meeting of gallery and residential spaces, introducing two distinct areas and localised design details throughout. An expansive Retail Floor houses the main clothing collections within a light-filled, predominantly white space, leading through to a more intimate Accessories Room, personalised with furniture and objects in natural materials and organic forms.
“Architecture and clothing share the same purpose - we should feel comfortable and protected in both. It was important to me that our first store in China had a residential feel, so that customers would instantly feel at home. The space balances this with a gallery-like room that allows the clothes to be fully appreciated. Kettle’s Yard Gallery in Cambridge is hugely inspirational for me; we shot a campaign there last year. It was once the home of a curator and has since become a gallery full of beautiful found objects and art that feels deeply personal. The floor tiling is directly inspired by it, as well as some of the books and objects I’ve collected for the Accessories Room.”
A natural travertine table in light slate grey dominates the Retail Floor, stretching over four metres through the space, with Francis Jourdain Art Deco chairs arranged around it. Light radiates delicately through large ceiling panels stretched with transparent paper, whilst the flooring is rendered in a textured pale grey micro-cement. The room is framed by three subtle alcoves along each wall, housing built-in polished steel rails for the clothing collections. Each alcove is lined with burnished raw steel panels, which also punctuate the entrance to the Accessories Room.
The Accessories Room’s intimate character is expressed through a lower ceiling and the warmth of slate-brick tiled flooring and natural cherry wood, used throughout the space in cabinets and shelving, including across the entire back wall. A cut-stone flat slab plinth sits at the centre of the room, while risers and plinths in rippled glass and solid reclaimed wood accompany groupings of stoneware ceramics and a giant Persian silk tree.
Slate tiles continue through a concealed corridor into two fitting rooms, where pale linen sofas rest on reclaimed wooden beams. The walls are outlined with beading crafted from the same natural cherry wood, offering a refined nod to Chinese interiors.
