Junspa President Tang Ya-jun (唐亞君) remembers watching a movi that opened with a woman in a busy office, holding a telephone in one hand and a cellphone in the other as people shoved papers in her face and her assistant urgently informed her that she was going to be late. The next scene showed her going into a spa for a massage. As the masseuse worked his magic, a lone tear streaked down her cheek. Tang says it was this tear that inspired her to create a space for women to escape from the pressures of career, family and society and let their cares melt away.
Junspa, Alexander Group's new spa series, is just for women. Built on the concepts of relaxation, the spa features an AquaSpa Therapy Zone -- complete with a large Jacuzzi, sauna and steam room -- as well as numerous massages and body treatments and finally a series of fitness/meditation classes that includes yoga, pilates and tai chi.
The idea behind "relaxation, quiet and emptiness" is that customers coming in after a busy day of work are not immediately ready for their muscles to be kneaded and pounded right away. A soak in the jacuzzi and some quiet time in the comfy spa lounge, where they can order healthy, tasty replenishment, will help to prepare them for the massage and physical activities that are designed to empty body and soul of stress.
The various therapies available at Junspa combine the principles of Chinese medicine, such as yin and yang, the five elements and moxibustion, with Western science to rejuvenate and beautify. There are four kinds of massage, including the stone massage, a jet-lag massage and one that involves two masseuses working at once. Junspa also provides state-of-the-art skin and body treatments such as Darphin, French skin creams tailored for every unique skin type, and Weyergans, a German treatment tank that eliminates cellulite.
Every last corner of the spa's 2,640m2 comes from the artistic palate of spatial art designer Wang Da-jun (王大君).
"As for the combination of jun and spa, the first thing I thought of was the thick ocean breath of a sea breeze. I used modern lines to sketch a clean resplendence and an Eastern ingenuity to draw out an aristocratic presence," Wang said.
Low ceilings and soft pink-orange lighting seems to cloak the rooms in a sleep spell -- even the Buddha statues are sleeping. Every detail of design conveys a simple luxury, from the softly curved mosaic seats of the steam room to the raised, criss-cross wooden platforms in the showers.
Emphasizing Junspa's Asian origin was also a consideration in choosing the name. The Chinese character jun is one of the language's most ancient and flexible. It is a form of address that conveys both respect and intimacy; it was once used for men and rulers, but now it has strong feminine connotations. It also happens to be in both Tang and Wang's names.
Despite some high-tech gadgets -- the Jacuzzi's massage beds, the toilet's heated seats and bidet buttons -- the intimate and wooden atmosphere is reminiscent of ancient nobility. At the same time, the traditional Chinese courtyard house layout, the stone statues of Buddhas and Chinese lions and the plum blossom decor show off a deeply Eastern sensibility.
Tang said the Eastern aspects of the treatments and the spa's design were an important part of their strategy to market Junspa abroad. "Thinking that one day we would take [Junspa] to non-Chinese countries, we wanted to make it Eastern not only in name but also in content," she said.
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