DSL Magazine: Issue 6

Born in Hong Kong into a family of entrepreneurs, Adrian Cheng set the tone for mixing deeply art and business with his “Museum of retail”, a totally new and inventive concept. His K11 chains are hybrid contemporary spaces including shopping mall and high quality art exhibitions. K11 Shanghai, for instance, opened in 2014 and recently hit the headlines with the exhibition of 40 masterpieces by Claude Monet and 12 other works by Impressionist artists lent by the Marmottan Museum in Paris. The exhibition was accompanied by debates, educational programmes and film- screenings. To Cheng, it is important to bring art into everyday life and there are no incompatibilities between experiencing art and sharing a coffee. The brand is expanding throughout China with a total of 19 projects in 11 Chinese cities planned between now and 2020.