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PRC MAGAZINE 20th ANNIVERSARY
Instagram-worthy interior design a key to competitive success Keeping up with community and social trends is the secret to commercial design success for JATO Design International Limited, an award-winning international design firm operating in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
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ccording to Kali Chan, Vice General Manager, Design Director – Interior at JATO Design, it has been the company’s regular practice to incorporate Instagram-worthy design features in its shopping mall projects. The core strengths of JATO Design lie in architectural, interior, graphic design and signages.
void edge that make selfie-snappers feel as though they are standing inside a 9-metre-high kaleidoscope. At the Fortune Metropolis foodcourt, there is a LED screen composed of recycled glass bottles in the function area to project large, low-resolution messages. The space is available for booking by companies looking to stage mini events such as press briefings.
RIDING THE SOCIAL MEDIA CRAZE
CREATIVE PROCESS AROUND DESIGN BRIEF
“The idea is to create instagrammable spots in the shopping centres we design, where customers are inspired to take selfies and photographs with their friends and post them on social media. This, in turn, will generate publicity for the malls and make them instantly recognisable in association with the photogenic spots they feature,” said Ms. Chan, citing two recent design project - Shimao Xiamen Shopping Centre in Xiamen city, mainland China and the food-court of Fortune Metropolis mall in Hung Hom district, Hong Kong.
JATO’s social media -inspired tactic does not make its design projects look formulaic though. “We are involved in the design of a lot of malls. But the interior design we develop for the different shopping centres is uniquely one of a kind and based strictly on the client’s design brief,” said Chan.
Take for example the “Dynamic Node” feature in Shimao Xiamen, which showcases a LED screen ceiling and triangle-shaped mirror stainless steel
JATO approached the Shimao Xiamen project first by investigating the surrounding community in which the mall would stand. The site, it discovered, stood in the Jimei district, one predominated by several postsecondary colleges and university. Upon being completed, the mall was expected to be a regular hangout for university students and middle-aged customers, who are residents of the area.
Text: Norman Yam
“As we grow, we seek to improve ourselves and our lives,” said Ms. Chan, putting herself in the shoes of the varsity students. “Mimicking a centre of learning, the mall embraces the “infinity of knowledge” concept, with an entrance designed like an open book and a “tree of knowledge” arch.
Images: JATO
Krista Chan