Shanghai-based X+Living has unveiled a fantastical flagship store for collectible toy brand POP MART along Bangkoks Chao Phraya River, merging surrealist design with Thai cultural motifs.
The 400-square-metre retail experience unfolds across two floors. Visitors enter through a music-box-inspired portal, transitioning from the riverside promenade into an immersive interior where fluid, vortex-like forms guide circulation. The ground levels sweeping geometries give way to a pixelated upper floor, where fragmented cubic structures create a digital dreamscape reminiscent of glitch art.
X+Livings design weaves Thai heritage throughout the scheme. Undulating surfaces reference the countrys deep connection to water, while the stacked pixel formations draw from the distinctive prang towers of Wat Arun. On the terrace, brand mascot MOLLY appears dressed in traditional costume, perched atop an elephant sculpture – Thailands national symbol.
The project culminates in POP MARTs first international Fairytale Café, where the boundary between commercial space and fantasy blurs. By grounding whimsical retail theatre in local architectural language, X+Living has created an emotional landscape that transforms shopping into storytelling.
Photo credit: SFAP
