Starhill Tea Salon Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia submitted by design spirits co., ltd. was recently shortlisted for design et al Asia-Pacific Design & Architecture, Restaurant Award 2013.

Starhill Tea Salon is located at Starhill Gallery Shopping Mall in Bukit Bintang which is the Golden Triangle of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Tea Salon is surrounded by a range of international luxury brands, including Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Bottega Veneta, and Gucci.

Although Malaysia was once colonized by British, this is the first tea salon of its kind. To create a strong brand identity, we began by employing a graphic designer to oversee the packaging design, menus and tableware selection.

The Tea Salon is an organic shape with a natural flowing and curved appearance reflecting the furniture design. All the furniture was designed in the factory and constructed in-situ, including the column tea display which can be attached and removed easily. The assembly of the ‘flexible furniture’ and other construction was carried out after hours over a period of six months to ensure that other retailers were not impacted by the construction.

Using lighting concepts, we created a classic and contemporary feel. The idea of no wall / partition in this design is to create visual non-boundaries using the reflections made from the cabinet side panels, hanging borders, and hanging shelves, illuminating the border lines within the space.

As well as the challenge of combining both Classic and Contemporary, we selected an Oriental style for the tea cans shape instead of a European style because the Tea Salon is wholly-owned by Malaysian Company.  We created a large graphic of the tea cans and used it together with lighting effects inside the cabinets to create a shadow illumination.

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To enter the design et al Asia-Pacific Design & Architecture Awards 2013 please request an application pack by emailing asiapacific@thedesignawards.co.uk