Capital cottons

Silk pouches, embroidered quilts, brocade throws - what fabulous souvenirs they’d make from your travels through Shanghai and Beijing, if only you could find your way through all the gaudy, mass-manufactured crud being peddled throughout the Middle Kingdom. Well, thank heavens for Shanghai Trio, who set up in their namesake city twelve years ago, and have just opened their first branch in Beijing, dedicated to injecting clean-lined, Franco-Sino sensibility into a range of home linens, apparel and accessories while keeping traditional craft techniques alive.

Baby love

You may not be able to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, but these clever poppets work with silk, cotton, cotton canvas, bamboo, linen and cashmere to make any number of buy-me pieces, from dainty coin purses, practical travel wallets and elegant scarves to bamboo fibre bedsheets in muted, neutral tones, kids’ PJs with embroidered trimmings, and varnished cotton satchels inspired by the local electricians’ tool bag, much of which is made in their workshop near Suzhou. Embroidered items are worked on individually by skilled craftsmen, making each product unique.

Bag it up

Their new shop in Beijing is smack bang in happening Sanlitun, next to The Opposite House, which has a sleek stable of sip n’ sup options, so you needn’t totter far for your post-retail repose. Bags down, bottoms up!

Unit 4-5, Lane 181, Taicang Lu, by Huangpi Nan Lu, Xintiandi, Shanghai. T: +86 21 6355 2974
NLG-38, The Village at Sanlitun North, 11 Sanlitun Lu, Chaoyang, Beijing. T: +86 159 1050 7603. W: shanghaitrio.com