Italian menswear brand Corneliani has inaugurated a new flagship store in Shanghai’s Citic Square shopping centre on West Nanjing Road, one of China’s most famous luxury retail hubs. The store is Corneliani’s 40th in China and it sells all the brand’s lines, from Corneliani ID leisurewear to a made-to-measure tailoring service.
Designed by architects Daniela Podda and Paolo Ponti, the exterior of the three-storey boutique is covered in a pattern of interlinking bronze rings, a design that not only symbolises power in traditional Chinese iconography but also echoes the architectural details of St. George’s Castle in Mantua, Corneliani’s home city. This motif is repeated in the interior of the store where materials such as leather, suede, macassar ebony panelling, polished stainless steel and imperial marble are combined in a palette that includes mainly dark brown, sand and light grey tones.
Corneliani was founded in Italy in the 1930s but only started its international expansion in 1985 with the opening of a store in New York City. Since then, the family-owned company has opened flagship stores in London, Paris, Moscow, New Delhi, Seoul, Tokyo and Mexico City. In 2008, Corneliani opened its first store in China, a country that generates 15 percent of the company’s entire global sales, which in 2011 amounted to 135 million Euros.