Byredo Opens Two New Flagship Stores in China

Founded in 2006 by Swedish-native Ben Gorham, Byredo is a contemporary luxury brand that creates unique leather goods and accessories, beauty products, eyewear, and home goods. Following a pop-up held at Beijing’s SKP-S building in 2018, the brand has announced the opening of two flagships in China, one in Shanghai’s Plaza 66, and the other in the new SKP-S building in Beijing.

Similarly to other Byredo retail spaces around the world, the new stores will each have their own individual concept to reflect the brand’s hybridity and visionary approach ‘we wanted to create two very special, intimate experiences that showed our own unique style and creative ambition’ says founder Gorham.

The new Byredo store in Shanghai opened on 15 November during celebrations for the Plaza 66’s anniversary, its design reflecting the A/W 19 collection ‘RARE BYRDS OF A FEATHER’ with displays focusing on Byredo’s leather goods and their design aspects. Inspired by Gorham’s own Swedish-Indian-Canadian cultural background and nostalgic youth, the concept centres on rare birds and the act of birdwatching for a series of exclusive leather goods. The window displays of the new space play home to limited edition ‘Rare Byrds’ bags, each embroidered or handprinted with a Rorschachstyle design reflecting feathers of rare birds native to Sweden and India; this notion of rarity and limited edition playing into the Byredo brand ethos who pride themselves on their focus on limited distribution and unique products.

Opening 3 December, the Beijing space at SKP-S aims to express the brand’s spirit of adventure and creativity. Drawing inspiration from science and space, the store’s concept derives from the idea of a meteorite falling to earth, even seeing a comet installation as the space’s centrepiece, with the the store acting as a laboratory with a perfume testing space constructed into a flammable goods cabinet. To celebrate the store’s opening Gorham has hand painted a limited series of Byredo handbags, and the retail space will also feature Byredo perfumes, home fragrances, leather goods and accessories, with special projects and launches planned to take place within the space.

The SKP-S location will rotate its products, with the space evolving as a whole visually to reflect this unique retail ethos.

‘We are really excited to enter into this creative relationship at SKP-S. This is a great project: it is very refreshing to work with a team that sees retail in a different way’ - Ben Gorham

Byredo Shanghai is open now at Plaza 66, L3-306, Plaza 66, No. 1266 West Nanjing Road, Jing-An District, Shanghai, China, 200040

Byredo Beijing opens 3 December at SKP South, Store D2016, 2/F, Building 1, No. 86 Jianguo Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China, 100025