A Compact Nail Studio in Pangrati

Located in Pangrati, Nailon Room by So Far Studio is a neighborhood nail studio developed within a compact space of just 20 sq.m. Rather than treating the limited area as a restriction, the project is conceived as a single atmospheric environment, where light, texture and spatial continuity define the experience of the interior.

The design focuses on softness and intimacy, creating a quiet pause within the rhythm of the city. Upon entry, the space is immediately shaped by a suspended textile installation at ceiling level, which introduces a sense of lightness and enclosure without reducing the clarity of the room.

A Suspended Textile Installation as Spatial Device

The translucent textile surface acts simultaneously as a light filter and a spatial device. It diffuses illumination across the interior, softening the atmosphere and transforming the perception of the room into something quieter, more immersive and almost scenographic.

This ceiling intervention becomes the defining element of the project. It gives the compact plan a sense of depth and continuity, while establishing an immediately recognizable identity for the studio.

Materials, Reflections and Pastel Tonalities

A restrained palette of cement plaster, plywood surfaces and pastel pistachio-toned details establishes a calm architectural language rooted in texture and tactility. Clean geometries and carefully balanced proportions reinforce the clarity of the interior, allowing the few material gestures to carry the atmosphere of the space.

Subtle reflections and layered transparencies continuously shift the perception of depth throughout the day. A large mirror positioned along the main axis visually expands the room, multiplying the presence of the textile installation and dissolving the physical limits of the compact plan.

A Linear Bar and Integrated Bench

The spatial organization is structured around a long linear bar element, which functions simultaneously as reception desk, manicure station and social threshold. This element concentrates activity and gives the small interior a clear functional order.

Opposite, a continuous built-in bench accommodates the waiting area, product display and pedicure station within a single integrated gesture. In this way, the different functions of the nail studio coexist without fragmenting the space.

Atmosphere Over Visual Excess

Rather than prioritizing capacity or visual excess, Nailon Room focuses on atmosphere, softness and sensory experience. Through light diffusion, muted tonalities and material continuity, the interior momentarily detaches visitors from the intensity of the city.

The result is an intimate and immersive environment, gently suspended between function and scenography. Within just 20 sq.m., the project creates a complete interior world defined by restraint, clarity and atmospheric precision.

A Retail Interior Conceived as a Journey

Located in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Travelmar Kaohsiung by FLOAT DESIGN STUDIO transforms a multi-brand luggage store into a layered spatial narrative, where travel, craft and local memory converge. The flagship space is dedicated primarily to Globe-Trotter, the historic British luggage brand founded in 1897, whose handmade cases are known for their distinctive combination of strength and lightness.

The design draws from Globe-Trotter’s visual language — curves, quarter-circles and arches — and reinterprets it through the urban and material context of Kaohsiung. Rather than creating a neutral retail environment, the project establishes a dialogue between brand identity and place. The result is a store that operates not only as a commercial interior, but as a spatial metaphor for departure, movement and return.

Globe-Trotter, Kaohsiung and the Language of the Arch

Kaohsiung’s history as a port city plays a central role in the concept. The image of ships arriving in the city is translated into a spatial system inspired by its gridlike urban fabric. This modular logic informs the display platforms, which can be joined, staggered or stacked according to different retail needs.

At the same time, the warm red-brick palette refers to the city’s material heritage, including its historical production of red brick and the brick-arched structures of the nearby British Consulate at Takao. The arch becomes a shared reference between brand and city: a form associated with Globe-Trotter’s rounded luggage details, but also with the architectural memory of Kaohsiung.

A Street-Front Façade with Red Brick Hues

The façade extends this narrative into the street. As a street-front store, Travelmar uses its exterior as a first gesture of invitation. The storefront is slightly recessed to form a soft diagonal corner, allowing passersby to perceive the depth of the interior while moving through the surrounding arcade.

Red brick tones, curved forms and arched elements distinguish the store from its urban context, while the floor pattern and color gradient draw the eye inward, toward the angled counter and the staircase beyond. From exterior to interior, the curved geometry establishes a sense of continuity, turning the threshold into the beginning of a spatial journey.

Modular Retail Displays Across Three Levels

Inside, the ground floor is dedicated to Globe-Trotter and uses arcs and arches to reinforce the brand’s flagship presence. The second and third floors are conceived with greater flexibility, offering adaptable platforms for other brands.

Lightweight partitions, galvanized panels and reclaimed components introduce a rawer material character, while natural wood elements create a tactile dialogue with the displayed products. The result is a retail environment that can shift according to different collections, without losing the coherence of the overall spatial language.

 

Light, Circulation and Urban Layering

A key challenge of the long, narrow plan was the limited daylight at the rear of the store. To address this, partitions were removed and the stairwell was opened, allowing natural light from the third floor to filter downward through the interior.

Ceiling fixtures follow a grid-like arrangement, echoing the structure of the city while providing a steady rhythm of illumination across the different levels. This light-guided circulation helps visitors move through the store intuitively, as if following a runway or urban route.

A Layered Interior Landscape Inspired by Kaohsiung

The project’s spatial composition is built through layering. Platforms, shelving and display elements stack, shift and interlock, creating an interior landscape that recalls the vertical density of Kaohsiung.

Adjustable modules allow the store to accommodate changing collections, while staggered arrangements break the rigidity of linear display. Visitors move through the space as if through a compact urban field, where changes in height, direction and material produce a continuous sense of discovery.

A Cultural Port for Contemporary Travel

Travelmar Kaohsiung is ultimately conceived as a cultural port: a place where international craftsmanship meets the memory of the city. Through its red-brick hues, arches, modular displays and light-guided circulation, the store frames retail as an experience of movement.

Each suitcase becomes the beginning of a story; each step through the space suggests both departure and return. In this sense, the project transforms the luggage store into an architectural narrative about travel, memory and place.

Natural line

Overall, the project proposes an architectural language that is minimal yet expressive, where form, materiality, and light engage in dialogue to shape a holistic experience that transcends commercial function and highlights the space as a bearer of aesthetic and semantic value.

 

Design Philosophy

The store’s design is based on the curve, as a reference to the natural line of the female body. The space’s flow and the organic forms in earthy tones – with microcement as the dominant material – shaped a clean, unified, and minimal aesthetic result. This simplicity of lines and the selected materiality simultaneously function as a backdrop, highlight the garments as protagonists, and offer visitors an experience of calm, elegance, and aesthetic continuity.

 

 

Spatial Organization

The compositional intent relies on shaping a spatial shell where curves operate not merely as decorative elements but as tools for organizing movement and prioritizing sightlines. The integration of lighting, natural and artificial, was approached as an architectural medium that reveals textures, intensifies the plasticity of surfaces, and defines different atmospheres during the visit.

 

 

 

Material Palette

The materiality of microcement, combined with a warm palette of tones, establishes a sense of monolithic character while simultaneously maintaining the softness and fluidity required by the space’s concept. Through this balance, the store’s architecture does not function simply as a backdrop for the exhibits but as a spatial narrative in which the visitor’s body becomes part of the compositional process.

 

Staging Illumination

The project features a 250 m2 contemporary clothing showroom. The overall ambition for the space was to surpass the conventional store concept and instead create an “Instagram-worthy” stage for online content creation.

 

Design Philosophy

The key concept was to create a harmonious interplay between lighting and volume. A series of lighting effects enhance the horizontal and vertical surfaces, ensuring uniformity and visual continuity within the space. Each function is accentuated through tailored lighting strategies. Distinct emphasis is placed on the changing room lighting, transforming them into a “stage” appropriate for filming. A white curtain wall serves as a backdrop for displaying the latest clothing collections, placed on thin metallic racks. Controlled natural daylight is used in conjunction with warm uplighting to achieve a smooth gradient effect.

 

Design Layout and Materials

Curved minimal lines form intermediate vaults that alternate between dividing the space into functional zones and creating voids for clothing displays. The space has a minimalist aesthetic, painted in off-white and warm hues, and cladded with natural material finishes. Curtains are used as dividers to counteract the existing low ceiling height and serve as accent elements throughout the space.

 

Lighting Design

The lighting design has been carried out by CK design Lighting and plays a pivotal role in the showroom’s design. Key lighting fixtures include adjustable spotlights on minimal ceiling-mounted tracks to illuminate the clothing displays. Concealed lighting is integrated into furniture pieces such as tables, shelves, mirrors, and the reception desk to soften the overall lighting scheme. Floor-recessed linear uplighters are used to illuminate the large openings, creating a gradient effect that serves as a backdrop for the showroom. Decorative white pendant balls are placed above the working counters, providing diffused light. The lighting color and temperature compliment the neutral color scheme of the space. Their anti-glare features and high Color Rendering Index accurately illuminate the clothes and accessories, while providing the appropriate lighting for photography and filming.