Faye’s Parlour is a sculptural interior designed for a contemporary fashion boutique in Changshu, Jiangsu. Conceived as both a space of commerce and experience, the project explores how form, light, and material can converge to create an environment that is as precise as it is immersive—an architecture of rhythm and restraint.
True to the name “Parlour,” the space is imagined less as a retail store and more as a lounge—a place where taste, style, and conversation unfold slowly. The boutique’s founder envisioned a relaxed, intimate setting where clients could browse, pause, and talk—where fashion could be experienced not as spectacle, but as dialogue. This spatial brief shaped every design decision, inviting a softer kind of atmosphere: one that listens as much as it speaks.
Curvature in the space is not drawn but constructed. Surfaces bend not through freeform gestures, but through a ruled system of straight lines—lines that shift, step, and rotate to generate the illusion of flow. This linear logic recalls the “constructed curves” of Naum Gabo’s sculptures, where structure and transparency create the perception of softness through pure geometry. The design balances this visual fluidity with a Scarpa-like rigor: transitions are layered and deliberate, stepping with intention to mark thresholds, frame views, and catch the light.
The interior is wrapped in a continuous skin of microcement—spanning walls, ceilings, and built-in casework in a single, uninterrupted gesture, complemented by color-matched floor tiles. This material unification allows form to read as one—blurring the boundary between architecture and furniture, container and contained. The muted tone absorbs and reflects light in equal measure, giving the space a soft spatial opacity—an atmosphere of suspension.
Rhythmic ribs fold across surfaces, shaping a choreography of movement and stillness. Circulation follows a quiet loop: visitors drift from entry to consultation, to product display, to checkout, without disruption. Fixtures are not added, but embedded—each counter, shelf, and seat integrated into the sculptural language of the space. Even the cashier counter is part of the architecture—not a destination, but a moment in the journey.
Though minimal in palette, the space is rich in experience. It offers moments of proximity and retreat, light and shadow, openness and enclosure. It invites slowness—a rare quality in retail—and gives spatial weight to the act of browsing, chatting, and discovering. Rather than compete with the brand, the architecture amplifies it quietly: emotional, measured, and deeply tactile.
Faye’s Parlour proposes a new kind of retail space—one that moves between the logics of sculpture and the discipline of architectural detailing. It is not a showroom, but a sanctuary. A place where form is not fixed, but felt—revealed slowly, with each step, each curve, each surface of light.
Design: Studio Curves
Leader designer & Team: John Dai, Yuanyuan Duan, Yinying Chen
Construction: Suzhou Yujing Construction
Clients: Faye's Parlour
Materials: Microcement, Tile, Stainless Steel, Textile
Photo Credit: Yu Ruan, Shijia Yu, Studio Curves
