Bringing Suzhou Village to the world

It takes an audacious brand to choose lines from William Blake's Auguries of Innocence to capture the essence of its new business in China, but Value Retail has been a globally recognised force for innovation since it opened Bicester Village in 1996.

To see a world in a Grain of Sand,

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,

And eternity in an hour.

Auguries of Innocence by William Blake

In his Auguries, Blake wrote about seeing "a world in a Grain of Sand" and "Heaven in a Wild Flower". Blake's lines are an exhortation to see artistry and beauty in every aspect of human life. The poet's iconic words appear in a gift being prepared for guests who will attend Value Retail China's grand opening celebration on October 16, when it will officially unveil Suzhou Village, its first shopping tourism destination in China.

For China, Value Retail has pushed the boundaries of the shopping experience once more, to create a destination that is a playground for self-expression and where art, architecture, design and music serve to heighten self-awareness, turning the acquisition of style into an opportunity for personal growth.

The grand opening will be a global event and guests will experience an integration of architecture, style, art and creativity beyond anything retailing has seen before as Value Retail turbo charge the shopping experience into an art form, calling on the spirit of Blake to show guests how they can "hold infinity" in the palm of their hand if they open up their hearts and minds.

Suzhou Village has come to life in one of China's most ancient cities, the former capital of the Wu culture, which draws over eighty million visitors per year, with many coming in search of their heritage and sense of identity.

The Wu Culture was China's principal point of contact with foreign civilisations for three centuries, absorbing them and introducing them to the rest of the country. The city has always had a global vision, which makes it a perfect match for Suzhou Village's international blend of style, art, shopping, culture and enchanting architecture. Internationalism.

The inspiration for the October 16 celebration begins with the Village's architecture, which has been crafted in a manner that resembles a movie script rather than a blueprint.

Value Retail's Brian Garrison, who has designed eight of the company's European villages, imagined that Marco Polo visited the beautiful Yancheng Lake site in the late 13th century, leaving some men behind to build a merchant town with vernacular architecture inspired by their journey along the Silk Road. Garrison's team made sketches of what these medieval buildings might have looked like and these became the basis of construction drawings. A short form of describing our architecture.

Garrison's poetic work has given Value Retail China a perfect stage for integrating the shopping experience with expressions of art, creativity and personal exploration. At the heart of the October celebration will be a series of experiences curated by Davide Quadrio of ArthubAsia, who collaborated with Value Retail China in creating the Suzhou Village event.

Taking a lead from Blake, Value Retail and Quadrio saw something profound in the shopping experience, namely a deep longing for unique forms of self-expression, especially in China.

The exploration of self has become the driving force behind a new wave of Chinese consumers who have chosen style and fashion as a way to explore freedom of thought and self-awareness. These new era consumers demand a shopping tourism destination where art, architecture and performances are lyrical and poetic expressions of an experience that takes them beyond the concerns of their daily life. The notion of travel, and of tourism.

"Art is not decoration, or an excuse for people to feel entertained," says Quadrio. "I thought of this project as a further exploration of the concept that through the architecture of the village and its marriage with art we have a truly mature expression of Value Retail's offering to the world. Style is art, design is art; the Village is art."

By thinking of Suzhou Village as an art form, Quadrio has acknowledged the latest innovations in the Value Retail culture, namely that shopping, art, ballet, style, music and fashion belong together on the same platform because they are aspects of the creative spirit, entwined like the dancer and the dance.

The integration of art, shopping and self-expression into a unified experience and form of creativity is a profound expression of China's appetite for culture and travel and the global experience that is now being developed in the great Chinese cities. This is the source of Yi (brilliance) at Suzhou Village and it is reflected in the new consciousness of sophisticated Chinese consumers.

"My work and the work of my team is that of a cultural translator, a link between various parts of the world that are somehow interpreted and expanded with a mutual creative process," says Quadrio. "We are bridging the local and non local into a global experience that is free to travel the world and is not restrictive or dated.

"Suzhou Village is not a venue for exhibitions or entertainment, it is a art form that creates the unexpected, the surprise factor that will bring the visitor to a real and authentic experience of their self in relation to the spirit of creativity.

This is real luxury, this is what is means to have 5 star hospitality within a retail environment, creating unique and memorable moments."

On the morning of the event the Village will open at 10:00 am, its usual time. The unusual element will be the expectation that something unique is about to happen. The experiences that will unfold during the course of the day have been in development for a year. They represent a climax in the emotional development of Value Retail's innovative platform that will define Suzhou Village as a unique destination for Chinese consumers.