TAMBURINS Shops: The Scent of Surprise in Empty Architecture

A brand that pursues beauty in everything, from its products to scent, packaging design and spaces.
Lee Jeong-yeon

Contents

How the shops began
1. Opening a shop before launching the products
2. Leaving space empty in Seongsu
The thinking behind the interiors
1. Letting light spread like fragrance
Shops to explore
References

How the shops began

Opening a shop before launching the products

Tamburins began with a flagship shop opened in 2017 on a side street off Garosu-gil in Seoul’s Sinsa-dong. The new cosmetics brand connected to Gentle Monster opened the shop to the public around four weeks before launching its products. There was no large sign or shop window filled with merchandise. With just a small brand name beside the entrance, the space itself served as a preview.

The first product was a hand cream. Yet in the spacious two-storey shop, furniture and artworks drew more attention than the items for sale. On the ground floor were chairs and tables made in collaboration with ten designers from around the world. Sculptural stools and chairs shaped as though they were crossing their legs helped communicate the same brand as the fragrance.

Lee Jeong-yeon of the visual team wanted to express beauty through spaces, paintings and performance, reaching beyond the category of cosmetics. As well as being somewhere to enter with a purchase already in mind, the shop offered a way to approach scent by first looking at an exhibition. That approach has continued in subsequent locations.

Leaving space empty in Seongsu

At the Seongsu flagship, completed in 2023, this idea extended to the entire building. The design was by THE_SYSTEM LAB, led by Kim Chan-joong. Instead of filling the above-ground floors with retail space, the team left the concrete frame empty and placed the shop underground.

Surprisingly, leaving the above-ground space empty was not an idea imposed by the architect: it began with the brand. In Seongsu, where land is expensive, they deliberately chose not to maximise usable floor space. Kim sees that decision as having helped the shop make a stronger impression.

It began with an idea from the brand, and it was an interesting project.
Kim Chan-joong

Alongside Sinsa and Seongsu, the brand has shops in Seoul’s Hannam and Samcheong neighbourhoods. In Japan, it has expanded to Aoyama, Shibuya and Daikanyama.

The thinking behind the interiors

Letting light spread like fragrance

At Seongsu, another challenge was how to make rough concrete and clear glass read as a single space. Lighting designer EONSLD planned to bring out the building’s structure with light while allowing the illumination inside to spread through the glass into its surroundings. The idea was to evoke, through light, the way perfume disperses into the air when sprayed from a bottle.

Many of the light fittings are recessed into ceilings and walls, with their angles adjusted to prevent direct glare. Rather than drawing attention to the fixtures, the design reveals the surfaces of the materials receiving the light. Jeong Mee, CEO of EONSLD, describes this finishing touch as follows.

Light is the last finishing material for space
Jeong Mee

Shops to explore

Seongsu, Seoul

The Seongsu shop’s exterior is very different from that of a conventional shop enclosed by walls. The gaps between the retained columns and beams reveal the building’s depth. The empty ground floor also suggests that space continues below ground.

An illustration inspired by the exterior of Tamburins Seongsu

In the basement, the existing concrete frame was retained while the other architectural elements were made as unobtrusive as possible. Clear glass ceilings and walls create a sense of three-dimensional space extending through the equivalent of four storeys, including the height above ground. Different kinds of glass, including low-iron insulated glass and ribbed glass, are used, with building services kept to a minimum.

An illustration inspired by the basement shop at Tamburins Seongsu

The shop inside HAUS NOWHERE SEOUL, also in the Seongsu area, is a separate location. It occupies a different site and building from this flagship with its empty concrete structure and underground shop.

Sinsa, Seoul

To visit the brand’s starting point, head to the Sinsa shop. The early interior offered both places to look at artworks and places to sit and try products. Upstairs, visitors could settle onto sofas or chairs to sample hand cream, and there was also an area for wrapping their own gifts. The shop was conceived around looking, touching and giving as well as buying.

Aoyama, Tokyo

In Aoyama, the pumpkin-shaped PUMKINI candle became a way to connect product and space. Graphic designer Lee Heewon, who created the artwork for the pop-up space in 2024, abstracted the candle’s shape into graphics for the setting. The outline of a vessel for scent was expanded to the scale of the shop.

The Aoyama shop remains in Minami-Aoyama. Even as its displays change, it offers the pleasure of going to see the latest forms and installations as well as choosing perfume and care products.