MI CASA, SU CASA

Three consecutive years in the making, Richard Mille St. Martin redefines the boutique experience with the hospitality of home

- YONG WEI JIAN

Hospitality is sacred. To open the door and greet visitors, to provide food and drink, to listen and converse. These are the divine duties of the host. For Richard Mille, true hospitality requires a critical reimagining of the store environment, so when Dave Tan, CEO of Richard Mille Asia, presented the unique opportunity of converting a 700-square-metre former restaurant in Orchard Road, the brand embraced the chance to revolutionise the way it receives its friends.

With the destination came the question of what to do with it. A boutique, certainly, but one that sets a new philosophical precedence. An in-house architecture team from the Paris headquarters took to the task in early 2021, filling the blank canvas with different possibilities until one ultimately prevailed: the concept of speakeasies and their secret back rooms, perfectly in tune with Mille’s maverick mindset. The facade and conventional appearance of the store will belie a hidden world, a vibrant hangout with a homey atmosphere where people can gather in conviviality.