Posts Tagged 'Shanghai'
May 5th, 2012
Places | Shanghai
from the desk of:
JULIE LIU, DESIGNER
Shanghai places curated by Julie Liu.
Favorite Hot Pot: “Kuo Bee Pen Da”, Taiwanese hot pot where you can mix your own sauces.Favorite Dumpling Spot: “Ding Tai Fung”, always consistent, always good.Hidden Gem: “Southern Barbarian” for Yunnan food; the best fried goat cheese, spicy mint salad and wild mushrooms.Best City View: “Park Hyatt Shanghai”, for afternoon tea.Favorite Traditional Shanghainese Restaurant: “Jessie”, order the fish head in advance, it’s baked under a mountain of scallions and is divine.Best City Escape: Midnight bike rides around the French ConcessionBest Place To Buy Something: “Spin” for ceramics, “Cha Mi” for quality tea.Favorite Hang Out Spot: “The Grumpy Pig”, I’m partial to this because this is Vinh’s place, but I’ve spent many afternoons and evenings here with friends. The atrium is lovely, the drinks tasty, and the pork focused food is pure comfort.
May 2nd, 2012
Places | Dong Liang
new wave
CONCEPT STORE, SHANGHAI
Walking down Fumin Lu in Shanghai’s Jing’an part of town, I almost missed Dong Liang; it comes off quite demure next to the surrounding Chinese hustle. Inside I found it equally soft spoken. However, once I learned that the concept store is about “discovery”, I realized that its understatedness is its charm. Inside and out its a hidden gem.
Tasha, who runs the Shanghai location, is stylish, gracious and speaks perfect English. She helped to curate the store’s “exclusively Chinese” offering; a collection of China’s best independent designers; most of them still unsung. She’s also a great resource, talking with Tasha about the designers is like having your very own crash course on China’s up and coming fashion scene. If you’re in Shanghai or Beijing (they have two stores there as well) it’s definitely worth a visit.
April 27th, 2012
People | Zhang Xi
material girl
PLORE, SHANGHAI
I met Zhang Xi through friends at a MOCA opening in Shanghai. Chinese born but schooled in Switzerland, Zhang is a Shanghai based architect that runs her firm: EXH Design, alongside her Swiss architect husband. Staring at the great oversized clutch she was carrying that night, I also found out she designs for her own accessories line: Plore, a second company that she started with a friend.
Since I have a secret love for finding unknown bags and a passion for the ones that are stealthly functional — my idea of an “IT bag”— I asked her about it. Turns out in ancient China, they used silk for their sails because of its durability. Zhang told me she was inspired by the lesser known functionality of the material and went on to design her line as a modern interpretation of its moxie and style.
Her bag was a marriage between a Celine or Comme de Garçon zipper clutch and an Incase. Elegant and simple. What good design should be but sometimes gets caught up in itself and forgets to do. One of the better work-to-evening bags I have seen.
Photos courtesy of Zhang Xi
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