Apple is opening a new store in Jiefangbei Square in Chongqing, China tomorrow. And like most Apple Store openings, it is a moment to savor for both design fans and artists. With that in mind, the company has posted a making-of video of the store’s promotional mural on its official YouTube channel.
The video, whose original Chinese version was posted a few days ago on Apple’s retail site, offers a behind-the-scenes look at how the magnificent mural came to be. “Just as the Yangtze and Jialing rivers come together in Chongqing,” Apple notes, “we brought together two artists to celebrate the opening of the new Apple Store, Jiefangbei.” The two artists are the U.S.-based photographer Navid Baraty, who took a beautiful photo of the Chongqing skyline, and the Chongqing-born painter Yangyang Pan, who painted over it to make it even more so.
Bearing a strong resemblance to the Pudong store in Shangai and the famous Fifth Avenue store in New York, the majority of the new Chongqing location resides under street level, with a massive glass structure, featuring the Apple logo, hiding a staircase down to lower levels. The company is timing the new location’s opening, and a handful of others, to coincide with the Chinese New Year festivities hitting next month.
