Laduree Shanghai Portman

Main Salon — Chairs — The Louis XVI medallion-back chair, in solid beech with vert d'eau finish and hand-applied antique gold leaf highlights. For Shanghai Portman, the chairs incorporate the complete suite of protective finishes developed across the Middle Eastern projects — UV-protective nano-ceramic clear coat for the street-facing window exposure, and anti-microbial topcoat for high-touch surfaces — but applied with an even finer hand. In the smaller, quieter Shanghai salon, any variation in the gold leaf application, any slight inconsistency in the carved highlights, would be immediately visible to a guest seated at arm's length. The blush pink cotton velvet seat pads are treated with the nano-level stain barrier, tested against tea, chocolate, and the delicate pastries that define the Ladurée experience.

Main Salon — Tables — Custom café tables in solid beech with Carrara marble tabletops, honed to a matte finish. The Shanghai tables are specified in the smaller of the two sizes developed for Riyadh Park — a dimension that suits the salon's intimate scale and allows the narrow pathways between tables to breathe.

Window Banquette — A single banquette in blush pink cotton velvet runs the length of the West Nanjing Road window, its button-tufted backrest divided into three rhythmic panels. The banquette frame is solid beech in vert d'eau with antique gold beading along the top rail. Its seat depth follows the generous Riyadh standard, inviting the kind of lingering afternoon tea for which the Portman has been known since its opening. The banquette's position — directly against the window — required all velvet to be treated with the UV-protective and sunscreen-resistant finishes developed for Dubai Marina Mall.

Boutique Retail Display — The patisserie counter in solid beech, vert d'eau with gold-leaf paneling. The macaron display arc is angled to capture the gaze of both West Nanjing Road pedestrians through the window and Portman lobby guests through the interior entrance. Integrated warm LED lighting at 2700K with CRI 97+. A retail wall in matching vert d'eau paneling displays the signature gift boxes, illuminated from above by a continuous LED strip. The retail wall is framed with a delicate gold-leaf border that echoes the carved highlights of the chairs.

Private Salon — A small enclosable space for intimate gatherings, furnished with the same Louis XVI chairs. Here, the chairs are arranged around a single Carrara marble table in solid beech, seating six — a table scaled for the kind of private celebration that the Shanghai salon was designed to host.

The Shanghai chairs represent the culmination of every protective technology Dual Jade has developed across five previous Ladurée projects: UV-protective coating, anti-microbial topcoat, nano-level stain barrier, and sunscreen resistance — all layered onto a single chair frame without increasing the film thickness or altering the vert d'eau colour temperature.

The window banquette's position — Shanghai-facing, south-westerly exposure, shaded by plane trees but receiving direct afternoon sun in winter — required the sunscreen-resistant velvet treatment developed for Dubai Marina Mall. Additionally, the velvet was treated with a hydrostatic moisture barrier to manage the specific humidity profile of Shanghai's subtropical climate, distinct from the arid conditions of the Gulf.

The retail wall's gold-leaf border was executed using the same hand-applied technique as the chair highlights, by the same senior finisher who led the Solitaire Mall project. The border's width — 8mm — was calibrated to read clearly from the street window without dominating the compact retail wall.

All visible hardware — drawer pulls, door handles, display frame corners — was specified in aged brass rather than the bright antique gold used on the chairs. This small material distinction, requested by the Shanghai design team, was intended to harmonise with the burnished brass that defines the Portman Ritz-Carlton's lobby, creating a visual continuity between Ladurée's interior and the hotel beyond its doors.

The private salon table was custom-proportioned to the room's dimensions, with the marble slab book-matched from a single block of Carrara — a detail perhaps visible only to the few guests who use the room, but one that Dual Jade's artisans executed with the same precision as the public-facing café furniture.