Designwire

Designwire

Enuse, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China

Designed by CHRIS SHAO STUDIO

Design Story of Ensue

I visited Chef Christopher Kostow in the spring of 2018 at his farm in St. Helena, CA. During our initial design briefing conversation for Ensue, he asked me “what is your definition of luxury?”. My response was that, to me, emotion evokes the greatest sense of luxury, as identifying luxury itself is a very deep and personal response to something. Chef Kostow then pointed to a tree in his farm and told me that that was his luxury. At that moment, I made up my mind that in the process of designing his restaurant I was going bring an unpretentious naturalism into the urban landscape of Shenzhen that would be emotive, yet effortless.

Inspired by the aesthetics of wabi-sabi, Chef Kostow represents his cuisine in the simplest form, but with the most intricate philosophy. In the design mechanism of Ensue, I aim to find a new emotional representation of luxury, achieved through unifying local vernacular, with contemporary ideas. A fusion of eastern ideas and philosophy, with western execution will create a space that evokes a new sense of style and elegance. This concept, executed with a wabi-sabi aesthetic that celebrates transience and imperfection, cohesively suggests “a Buddhist teaching of the three marks of existence, specifically impermanence, suffering and emptiness or absence of self-nature.” – Leonard Koren. Furthermore, the space embodies an interesting interaction between the ideas of fire and ice; two sensory, visual and conceptually jarring circumstances, that are unified in a way to create a calming sense of balance.

In Ensue, I also personified many design intentions based on my Chinese upbringing. I explored the work of local artisans and manufacturers around Canton region, to rethink and redefine the modern meaning of Made-in-China in the design industry. With more pride and few disappointments, Ensue really evokes a new thinking of my culture that until now, is yet to be explored in relation to design. Being so personal, this entire process was an emotional one. This project is my new definition of “luxury”.

As complicated as it may sound to you, I take great pleasure in inviting you on this journey curated by Chris Shao Studio; as the name states, to discover the emotional response that will Ensue.