TAM MINH SHOWROOM — COMMERCIAL, HANOI, 2025

When a company decides to open a showroom, it is making a statement about who it is and what it believes materials can do. Tam Minh's decision to commission Vigon Architects for a 200 sqm commercial space in Hanoi was, from the outset, an act of conviction. The brief demanded a space that could function as both retail environment and architectural manifesto — a space where the quality of the surfaces would speak as loudly as the products displayed upon them. NORA DESIGN ITALIANO was the natural partner for a project of this ambition.

THE VISION

Vigon Architects approached the Tam Minh showroom with the rigour of a gallery designer. The challenge of a commercial space is always the same: how to create an environment that supports the merchandise without competing with it, that impresses without overwhelming, that functions for years without ageing. The solution was to commit entirely to the material quality of the envelope — to make the surfaces themselves the primary architectural act, so that everything displayed within them would be elevated by association.

THE MATERIALS

NOVACOLOR WALL2FLOOR provides the foundational layer of the showroom — a seamless microcement system flowing across floors and selected wall planes, establishing the space's contemporary discipline. NOVACOLOR METALLO FUSO — perhaps the most spectacular system in the NOVACOLOR portfolio — defines the feature elements: this metallic plaster, with its hammered, oxidised texture and genuine metal pigments, creates surfaces that seem to have been cast rather than applied, that carry the weight of industrial craft while remaining entirely architectural. The contrast between the matte horizontal ground of the microcement and the tactile luminosity of the metallo fuso creates a spatial tension that is immediately legible to any design professional who enters the space.

THE RESULT

Tam Minh's showroom has rapidly become one of Hanoi's reference points for material culture in commercial interiors. Visitors — contractors, architects, and retail clients alike — consistently remark on the quality of the surfaces before anything else. This is the highest compliment a material specification can receive: that the surface itself becomes the conversation. NOVACOLOR and NORA DESIGN ITALIANO delivered exactly what Vigon Architects had envisioned — a space where the walls speak first.

Is your commercial space ready to make this kind of statement? Contact NORA DESIGN ITALIANO at designmaterials@noradesignitaliano.com and let us show you what Italian surfaces can do for your brand.