gentle monster opens shenzhen store with giant sculptures of sleeping human, bisons & faces

set in water plaza, shenzhen mixc world, the eyewear brand lives up to its name when it opens its store in shenzhen, china, with towering sculptures.

matthew burgos September 9, 2024 4 min

HAUS NOWHERE SHENZHEN by Gentle Monster

Gentle Monster lives up to its name when it opens its store in Shenzhen, China, with towering sculptures of a sleeping human, bisons, and faces (or busts). Set in Water Plaza, Shenzhen Mixc World, it’s the third HAUS NOWHERE project of the Korean eyewear brand, each of which promises to shy away from how a typical retail store is designed and depicted. It has opened its doors since September 5th, 2024, and once inside, visitors can roam around the retail space, witness the FUTURE RETAIL design that the team has followed, and shop as the gentle giants accompany their every move—immobile but always with a looming presence.

gentle monster shenzhen sculptures — all images courtesy of Gentle Monster

giant sculptures of sleeping human, bisons and faces in store

There’s a unifying narrative that ties all the sculptures found in Gentle Monster’s Shenzhen store: INSECT KINGDOM. The Korean eyewear space isn’t just about whipping up a number of colossal statues for a ‘wow’ factor. It’s research, a tangible interpretation of a fictional tale about the 10,000-year relationship between giants, insects, and animals. It imagines a shelter where people share the same space without sharing any fear—a collective existence, cohabitating. HAUS NOWHERE SHENZHEN then has a sequence.

It begins with the First Three Creations, molded by the Monad, the dubbed first of beings. This entity shaped three beings: Insectoids in the shape of mantises, Beasts resembling bison, and the Colossal First Human. But the Monad shouldn’t be deemed a hero, later on. The entity, together with the Insects, became so consumed by hidden greed and intelligence that it locked away the Colossal First Human. It seems that Insects may have thrived in the kingdom because, as the exhibition space shows, they became rulers of the kingdom for hundreds of centuries, thus ending up with the name The INSECT KINGDOM.

Retail store that doubles as an exhibition space

The Insects’ days may be over as soon as visitors reach the last section of Gentle Monster’s Shenzhen store. Three faces of women with their eyes closed greet them. They are the Three Oracles, the ones who warn the Insect Kingdom about the fate they’ve seen in their vision: the long-dormant and sleeping Colossal First Human will soon rise and break out from its stasis. ‘The rest of the story will follow,’ the brand’s team says. Other than the narrative, the sculptures come to life in the finest details possible, making them lifelike.

The veins in the hands of the sleeping giant bulge; the faces of the women with their eyes closed glisten under the light, contoured as well to resemble living people; the bisons seem to just freeze in their places and pretend they’re statues; and the dormant insects may open their eyes any minute, ready to launch at the visitors. Hours of crafting and curating result in an immersive series of installations in Shenzhen, China, and inside Gentle Monster’s HAUS NOWHERE, the store becomes an exhibition space first.