Designed by Spanish artist Jaime Hayon, the store is the first and so far only one of its kind in the world that celebrates color and uses natural and artificial lighting in the most creative way.
By Alex Y. Vergara
In the growing realm of the “Republic of Fritz Hansen,” the Philippines scored another first with a one-of-a-kind showroom that’s unlikely to be repeated or matched anywhere else in the world.
The globally renowned Danish furniture brand recently opened its newly renovated Manila lounge at the ground floor of One Parkade, 28th Street corner 7th Avenue, BGC. It took Fritz Hansen and Ben Chan’s Studio Dimensione, the global furniture brand’s exclusive partner in the Philippines, nearly three years to finish and unveil the bigger and definitely much better store designed by Spanish artist Jaime Hayon.
Gracing the store’s recent ribbon-cutting was Dario Reicherl, the Singapore-based Italian CEO of Republic of Fritz Hansen in Asia. In an exclusive interview, Dario personally toured PeopleAsia to the 328-square meter lounge, which consists of not one but six rooms featuring key signature pieces from Fritz Hansen. Each setup is a showcase in and of itself, which, says Dario, customers could either buy as is or select and tweak by choosing a different material or color.
“Jaime has designed a number of Fritz Hansen stores in the past, but this is the only one in the world he designed like this,” Dario explains. “Whereas his past works were more sedate, more conventional and calmer, he went out all the way this time. The result is wilder, more colorful and more himself.”
Fritz Hansen’s Manila lounge is almost the exact opposite of Hayon’s earlier works in such developed countries like Japan, Korea and even Denmark, whose people are partial to white, almost antiseptic interiors.
It’s no coincidence, adds Dario, that the artist is also Spanish. Heavily tinged with a modern Mediterranean flavor, from the choice of colors to the play of light, Hayon’s interiors readily appeal to Filipinos and their acquired Spanish sensibilities. Dario has little way of finding out if Latin Americans, like their Filipino counterparts, would respond similarly to the explosion of colors, as Fritz Hansen’s presence there is still quite limited.
White is limited to the ceiling. In lieu of neutrals, except for gray, the rooms are splashed in such tastefully vibrant hues as pale rose, blue green, yellow, orange and oak. Each room, apart from variations in the choice and arrangement of furniture pieces, is designed to evoke a particular mood suggestive of its use as well as the time of day.
One room, for instance, with its indirect lighting, is designed to calm you down and provide you with a refuge in between work and downtime, as it allows you to, say, write your thoughts on a journal, read a book, listen to music, or simply plop down the comfy sofa and do nothing.
Another room is decidedly a family room, Filipino-style, which can accommodate anywhere from 15 to 20 people. It features, among other pieces, a long dining table and several chairs of varying designs and makes. This time, the lighting is brighter and often more direct.
As an added treat, a couple of rooms are made more interesting, thanks to giant artworks by Hayon himself. “He did those for Ben,” Dario shares. “Everything found in the rooms are for sale except for Jaime’s artworks. I don’t think Ben is selling them.”
No thanks to the pandemic, the renovation, which normally takes one year to finish, had dragged on for almost three years. Despite the untold disruptions it created, Dario saw a silver lining in an otherwise bleak and often frustrating scenario.
“This is a very mature job, not rushed,” he declares proudly. “And judging from the final results, I’d say it’s the bravest store I have ever done. I’m actually quite happy we were able to achieve this.”
