SK-II Hainan Flagship

SK-II had never built a global travel retail flagship. The Sanya International Duty Free Shopping Complex in Haitang Bay, Hainan was the site — and the ambition was to create a store that functioned as a brand experience, not just a retail environment.

The challenge was structural: how do you make a luxury skincare store feel like an event without making it feel like a theme park? Every zone needed to carry the brand's heritage, tell a product story, and still work as a functioning retail space where someone could walk in, understand the brand, and buy something.

LXP Experience

A gold-hued sanctuary. Eight symbolic drops fall into a basin shaped like the LXP cream, each representing the 8x concentration of PITERA that defines the product. The zone was designed to elevate what could have been a product display into a multi-sensory brand moment — light, material, and spatial design working together to give the flagship product the weight it carries in the brand's hierarchy.

Product Discovery Area

Japanese dry garden aesthetics set the register here. Gradient-colored spheres represented the fermentation process at the heart of PITERA's creation. Commissioned glass crystal art pieces added a layer of craft that signaled seriousness — this was not decorative filler but a curated environment designed to slow visitors down and invite them to explore the brand's heritage through material, color, and form.

Skin Counselling Area

The consultation experience was elevated to ceremonial. Washi paper and Hinoki wood drew on Japanese craft traditions to create an environment that felt intimate and premium — a space where a skin consultation stopped being a retail transaction and became something closer to a ritual.

Gifting Wall

Sake barrel-inspired design, reflecting SK-II's Japanese heritage. The gifting experience became a culturally resonant gesture rather than a checkout afterthought.

The store opened with collaborators including Storey Studio (UK), Studio Swine, VVDFX, Lyris Studio, and Fusion (China). The same client engagement extended to a SK-II boutique in Kuala Lumpur — a smaller execution within the same programme, delivered on a combined budget exceeding US$1.2M across both markets over six months.