THE WAU FACTOR

From golden hibiscus to anyaman motifs, Cartier injects notes of Malaysiana into its newly reopened store in Pavilion Kuala Lumpur.

- ABDUL AZIZ DRAIM

It’s common business practice for an international brand to adhere strictly to a cookie-cutter way of designing their stores across the globe, where flooring and finishings, lighting and fittings look and feel the same for each and every one of their boutiques regardless of the city it’s in.

After all, it’s about branding and creating a homogenous experience, so that customers walking into their store in London or Dubai or Tokyo will feel the same familiarity as with the store back at home.

But the newly refurbished Cartier boutique in Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, unveiled last December, is doing things differently. Much like with its store in The Gardens Mall (opened in 2022), Cartier has chosen to pay tribute to our specific culture and heritage within its new interiors, creating a space that still feels unmistakably Cartier but also uniquely Malaysian. Not something you can experience in its other global boutiques.