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    Aesop clads London store with tactile bars of soap

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    Skincare brand Aesop has opened a minimalist store in London’s Knightsbridge, featuring a “soap corridor” created with uniform tiles made from the everyday bathroom product.

    Set within a slim and narrow room on Brompton Road, the Aesop outlet is characterised by a floor-to-ceiling installation made of cream-coloured soap bars.
    Aesop has opened a store in London’s KnightsbridgeThe installation, created by architect Nicolas Schuybroek, was transferred from an Aesop store in Milan, where it was temporarily on display for the city’s design week in April. Slabs of soap were arranged in a gridded layout and supported by a subtle timber structure, designed to be disassembled and installed at different locations.
    “Schuybroek had taken one of the most fundamental, functional household items – a bar of soap – to create an unconventional sculpture,” reflected Aesop.
    It features an installation by Nicolas Schuybroek made of bars of soapAccording to the skincare brand, the architect was informed by the simplicity of Arte Povera – an Italian art movement from the 1960s to the 1970s that favoured using unconventional everyday materials instead of more traditional ones such as oil paint or carved marble.

    “Just as practitioners of the Arte Povera movement restricted themselves to simple and everyday materials in their poetic compositions, the spatial restriction of the store enforces a streamlined design in the form of a soap corridor,” said Aesop.

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    As per every Aesop branch, the store includes a central basin for skin consultations. At the Knightsbridge store, every piece of furniture was repurposed from the Aesop furniture collection, including the basin and the grey geometric display shelving.
    In one corner of the room, more bars of soap were piled into a sculptural heap, adding a playful touch to the otherwise “muted calm” of the interior.
    The skincare brand explained that Schuybroek’s installation is intended to travel to numerous Aesop stores, with Brompton Road being its second home.
    The installation was previously on display during Milan design week in AprilKnown for its varied store designs that often reference their specific locations, Aesop has nearly 400 outlets around the world.
    These include a brick-clad branch in Copenhagen that pays homage to the nearby Louisiana Museum of Modern Art and an open-sided shop in Seoul that was informed by traditional Korean pavilions.
    The photography is by Alixe Lay.

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      Aesop store interior references Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

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      The Danish bricks and narrow floor plan of this Aesop store in Copenhagen nod to the “humble” design of the nearby Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.

      Located on Kronprinsensgade in Copenhagen’s old town, the neutral-hued store was created by skincare brand Aesop’s in-house design team to complement its setting without “unnecessary flourishes”.
      The Aesop store is on Kronprinsensgade in CopenhagenThe interior takes cues from the architecture of the famed Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, completed in 1958 in Humlebæk, 35 kilometres north of Denmark’s capital.
      A long and low-ceilinged rectangular room makes up the store, which features a circular space at the back with a curved brick-clad basin.
      Danish red bricks feature throughout the interiorThis floor plan mirrors the museum’s “understated horizontal building” with its thin glass corridors, according to Aesop’s head of store design Marianne Lardilleux.

      “We were drawn to the Louisiana Museum because it was designed as a home for Danish, rather than international, modern art,” she told Dezeen.
      A backlit circular opening illuminates the curved basinDanish red brick tiles were laid across the floor by local stonemasons, arranged in a “radiating” pattern that recalls several Copenhagen landmarks, according to Lardilleux. These bricks replaced the store’s original painted concrete screed flooring.
      Stained oak timber was used to create sleek geometric shelving, which spans the length of one of the walls and provides a gallery-style display unit for neat rows of Aesop products.
      This material was also applied to the ceiling, characterised by slatted wood interrupted only by an oversized and backlit circular opening above the brick-clad basin with aged brass elements.

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      A smooth timber door leads to the back-of-house area, concealed behind a sandy-coloured curtain.
      “The focus is on the warmth of the materials,” explained Lardilleux.
      “At the museum, the humble materials used – bricks, wood, white paint – come together in a way that is simple yet striking. At Aesop, we hope to design spaces that are similarly direct in their approach.”
      Stained oak was used to create the slatted ceiling”Just as every work of architecture relates to its site and context, every Aesop store is sensitive to its environment,” added the designer.
      “We are not interested in rolling out identical interiors – our surroundings have always inspired us.”
      Since the first Aesop outlet was designed in St Kilda, Melbourne, in 2003, the brand has opened hundreds of global stores that respond to their settings.
      Recently, architect Jakob Sprenger installed 1920s plaster medallions above a sculptural sink as the centre of a Paris store while design studio Odami chose minty green interiors for a location in Los Angeles.
      The images are courtesy of Brian Buchard.

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      Jakob Sprenger embellishes Aesop store with salvaged plaster medallions

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      Austrian architect Jakob Sprenger has installed 1920s plaster medallions above a large sculptural sink as the centre of skincare brand Aesop’s store in Paris.

      Located within a residential neighbourhood in the district of Ternes in Paris’ 17th arrondissement, Sprenger designed the store to “create a feeling of simple domesticity”.
      The space was designed around four 19th-century painted gypsum ceiling medallions that the team found during the initial stages of the project.
      The flooring was made from reclaimed French tomette tilesThe baroque-style medallions were originally made in 1923 for the now-demolished Hotel de la Guilonniere in central Paris.
      They were placed directly above a sculptural sink that sits at the centre of the triangular store.

      “At first, we weren’t sure how to incorporate them, but their artistic quality and provenance immediately caught my attention,” Sprenger told Dezeen.
      The medallions were attached to the ceiling and one of the wallsAs is typical of most Aesop stores, the sink can be used by customers to trial and test the brand’s products.
      Above the sink, a large elliptical cut-out in the ceiling was designed as a frame for both the sink and the medallions above.
      “The triangular floorplan with a wide south-facing facade has a rather unusual geometry but allows for an impactful arrangement of functions and exciting perspectives,” explained Sprenger.

      JamesPlumb fuses bulrush and hemp elements at Cambridge Aesop store

      The design team organised the space into two “differently proportioned” sections, with the primary sales area at the front of the store and the billing and checkout nook at the back.
      Sprenger explained that the two sections were “flanked by softly rounded geometries, harmonising the visual tension of the triangular room with narrow corners”.
      Millwork and accent walls across the store were painted in burgundy-red lacquerBurgundy-toned window bays were created at either end of the space, where there is seating for customers.
      Adjacent to one of the windows is a fragrance armoire, where customers can test the brand’s perfume range.
      The checkout nook has a curved counterThe billing and checkout nook was created as an intimate space painted in burgundy red lacquer, featuring visible brush strokes.
      Candles and incense are displayed on recessed shelves on one side of the nook.
      Recessed shelves display the brand’s candles and incense rangeAccording to Sprenger, the main design challenge was amending the facade, which was added in the 1990s.
      The design team aimed to create an “inviting ambience” by adding textile awnings and lacquered paneling above a plinth clad in lutecian sandstone.
      An alabaster-coloured Aesop street sign contrasts the dark background of the facade.
      The facade features a plinth of lutecian sandstoneSprenger previously designed Aesop stores in Rome and Salzburg.
      “Our mission is to create lasting values that resonate meaningfully with their surroundings,” he explained.
      “We approach every project as a unique entity embedded in its historical, architectural and cultural context,” Sprenger said.
      Aesop stores recently featured on Dezeen include an outpost in Seoul informed by traditional Korean pavilions and another covered in mint green materials in Los Angeles.
      The photography is by Ludovic Balay.

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      Traditional Korean pavilions inform open-sided Aesop store in Seoul

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      Skincare brand Aesop has collaborated with designer Samuso Hyojadong to create a store in Seochon, Seoul, that features an open facade and an oversized stone plinth.

      Positioned in one of the oldest neighbourhoods of Seoul’s Jongno-gu district, the Seochon outlet was created to “fit harmoniously within its local context”, according to Aesop’s design team.
      Aesop designed the Seochon store with Samuso HyojadongWhen designing the store, Aesop and Hyojadong took cues from the architecture of jeongjas – traditional Korean pavilions with no walls, which serve as spaces for resting and taking in the surrounding views.
      The street-facing facade was created with mesh metal screens that can open out entirely to create a storefront with no walls. Once closed, the woven metal backing creates translucent windows through which passersby observe the softly lit silhouettes of uniform rows of bottles.
      Reclaimed timber features on the interior”Samuso extended the floorplate outwards to create a threshold that conveys a generous sense of hospitality,” the Aesop design team told Dezeen.

      “One [jeongja] in particular that inspired us was the Soswaewon in the Damyang region, which was built in the sixteenth century and is surrounded by a verdant garden.”
      An oversized stone plinth displays Aesop productsFor the store’s material palette, the designers referenced the timber and stone that are typically used to build traditional Korean houses known as hanoks.
      A large, rough-edged stone plinth displaying clusters of products was positioned at the entrance while various wooden accents were created with timber reclaimed from salvage yards and an abandoned house.
      Copper was used to create geometric cabinetsThe store was also built on a raised stone platform, which nods to the traditional architecture.
      Hanji paper created from mulberry tree bark sourced from South Korea’s Gyeongnam province features on the store’s walls, which frame central geometric cabinetry and sleek taps made of locally produced aged copper.

      Aesop store in south Seoul is a cosy red-brick retreat

      The designers were restrained in their use of sanding, sealants and coatings when treating the materials, opting to embrace their “natural imperfections”.
      “Sensitivity to texture in this store is superlative,” reflected the design team. “Samuso wanted each material to express itself directly, without too much human intervention,” it continued, referencing the roughness of the stone and the reclaimed timber’s undulating texture.
      The metal was also used to design sleek tapsRosewood was used to create the store’s signature fragrance armoire, which is hidden from view until opened out and was conceived as a traditional Korean jewellery box, according to the design team.
      “Throughout the store, we were compelled by a desire to dissolve the boundaries between inside and outside, between the naturally occurring and the human-made,” concluded the designers.
      The store’s signature fragrance armoire was informed by Korean jewellery boxesKnown for stores that pay homage to their varied locations, Aesop has an outlet in Cambridge defined by handwoven bulrush shelves that nod to the nearby River Cam and a Sydney store furnished with domestic items to evoke 1960s Australian homes.
      The photography is courtesy of Aesop.

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      Odami creates textured minty interior for Aesop Palisades Village store

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      Mint green materials cover this store for skincare brand Aesop, which Toronto studio Odami designed for the Palisades area of Los Angeles.

      The Aesop store opened at the end of 2022 in the Palisades, a verdant corner of the city northwest of Santa Monica where several seminal modernist houses are located.
      In the center of the store are stainless steel sinks for testing the brand’s products”Aesop Palisades Village takes inspiration from its natural surroundings, as well as the area’s vernacular architecture, where local buildings are delicately perched within a cascading landscape of lush ridges and valleys,” said Odami.
      “Most notably, this includes celebrated local architect Ray Kappe’s own residence, a critical reference for the project.”
      Planters with tropical foliage are placed behind the sink and along the side wallThe same shade of pale green is used across the walls, ceiling, floors, display stand bases, and a sink for testing products in the centre of the store.

      The velvet curtain and upholstery fabric is matched to the microcement surfaces, resulting in a monotone texture throughout the small shop.
      Textured microcement surfaces and velvet curtains match to create a uniform effectBehind the full-height curtains, Aesop’s distinctive brown bottles are presented on shelves built using reclaimed walnut wood.
      The dark wood is also used for countertops, individual shelves, and a storage unit that sits below a large product display set into one wall.
      The mint-green curtains open to reveal more products displayed on reclaimed walnut shelves”Gently placed amongst this unfolding landscape, the various storage and display requirements are resolved as long horizontal planes, composed of either reclaimed wood or stainless steel, to create an interplay of levity and mass,” Odami said.
      The sinks, which are lined with stainless steel, face a planter brimming with tropical foliage – a feature repeated perpendicularly along the adjacent side wall.

      Victorian balusters pattern surfaces at Aesop Yorkville store by Odami

      A skylight above the flora brings in extra natural light into the space, while a low bench offers customers a place to sit and pause.
      “Together, the design for Aesop Pacific Palisades aims to create a biophilic environment, elevating the ritual of self-care through the presence and evocation of nature,” said Odami.
      A bench is provided for customers to sit and pauseThe Toronto studio was founded in 2017 by Spanish architect Aránzazu González Bernardo and Canadian designer Michael Fohring.
      The team has completed a wide range of projects, from residential and restaurant interiors to a furniture collection, as well as another Aesop store located in Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood.
      The store is located in Los Angeles’ Palisades neighbourhoodAesop is renowned for the interiors of its stores, which each have a distinctive design relating to their location.
      Recently completed include an outpost in London’s Marylebone that’s organised to reference a bookshop, and another in Cambridge, England that features handwoven bulrush shelves.
      The photography is by Rafael Gamo.
      Project credits:
      Client: AesopDesign: OdamiGeneral contractor: Precise Contractor IncFabrication: Dayone DesignsArchitect of record: WORD Design x ArchitectureEngineering: RKM Consulting Engineers Inc

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      Piles of green-hued books characterise London Aesop store

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      The interior of London’s most recent Aesop store in Marylebone was organised to reference a bookshop and features bespoke timber cabinetry by furniture designer Sebastian Cox.

      Skincare brand Aesop’s in-house design team created the concept for the Marylebone store, which recently relocated from its original home in the London neighbourhood to Marylebone High Street.
      The Marylebone store features piles of green booksThe team took “material references” from the British Library on Euston Road and attempted to emulate the layout of traditional bookshops by choosing warm timbers and towering piles of pale green books to decorate the interior.
      Divided into a main shop and an area for personal skin consultations, the L-shaped store features handmade cabinetry by Cox throughout.
      Olivier Cousy added frescos to the ceiling troughsThe shelving is defined by gently rounded edges, which Cox crafted from lime-washed oak and stained with linseed oil to enhance the timber’s warm appearance.

      He designed the cabinetry with flexible joinery that would allow the furniture to be disassembled and transferred elsewhere if needed.
      Sebastian Cox designed timber cabinetry throughout the interiorOversized rattan lampshades were also chosen for the main shop area, which displays uniform rows of Aesop products and includes large, metallic communal sinks built into the timber cabinetry.
      The store’s also features ceiling troughs with custom-made geometric frescos by artist Olivier Cousy.

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      Cousy was informed by Marylebone’s many green squares when painting the designs, which are geometric arrangements of autumnal colours – compositions that take cues from expressionist artist Paul Klee’s 1922 work Tower in Orange and Green.
      “Architecturally, our design method is to connect to the context of the locale, weaving ourselves into its fabric,” said Aesop chief customer officer Suzanne Santos.
      Wooden sinks characterise the skin consultation areaIn the skin consultation area, a sandy-hued, floor-to-ceiling curtain can be pulled to give customers privacy while geometric timber sinks were built into the space’s cabinetry.
      Known for its array of stores that pay homage to their individual locations, Aesop’s other outlets include a branch in London’s Piccadilly Arcade with marble fixtures that filmmaker Luca Guadagnino designed to reference the area’s jewellery boutiques, and a Cambridge store by British studio JamesPlumb with hemp and bulrush accents that nod to the nearby River Cam.
      The photography is by Alixe Lay. 

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      JamesPlumb fuses bulrush and hemp elements at Cambridge Aesop store

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      London design studio JamesPlumb blended handwoven bulrush shelves with earthy hemp accents to create the interiors for this Aesop store in Cambridge, which takes cues from the nearby River Cam.

      Located on the city’s Trinity Street, the Aesop outlet was conceived as a “woven reading room” that provides a place to shop and leaf through books, according to the Australian skincare and cosmetics brand.
      The JamesPlumb-designed shopfront features a facade informed by leatherThe store’s understated shopfront is painted a dark brown hue informed by well-worn leather, which nods to antique book bindings in reference to Cambridge’s history of academia.
      Inside, a curved and slatted window seat doubles as a plinth for potted pelargoniums that frame the store’s light-filled, street-facing room featuring earthy-toned walls.
      Potted pelargoniums line a street-facing window seatThis space is defined by oversized, textured shelves created from freshwater bulrush plants – locally sourced and handwoven by rush weaver Felicity Irons of Rush Matters.

      “The city itself and the surrounding landscape were the starting point for our design,” studio founders Hannah Plumb and James Russel told Dezeen.
      “The River Cam plays a huge part in that – we were increasingly drawn to it and felt strongly that it sets the pace and the pulse of the city of Cambridge.”
      Hemp and bulrush form shelving and other cabinetryOther shelving in this room is made from hemp grown on the nearby Margent Farm, which was combined with bio-resin to form geometric slabs of cabinetry that display various Aesop products, as well as a large sink.
      “[The hemp] absorbs a huge amount of carbon as it grows, and to be so local to the project was wonderful,” acknowledged Plumb and Russel.
      “We wanted to use materials that were as local as possible, and bulrush being literally of the local waters made sense – both because of its beauty and tactility, and also because of the chance to use a material that would travel so few miles, and use so little energy in production,” they added.

      Aesop’s London store takes its colour from the red sandstone of Glamis Castle

      At the back of the store, another room features walls painted in a darker hue than the street-facing space, which takes cues from the brown flowers of bulrush plants.
      Visitors are invited to sit in a low-slung antique armchair upholstered in floral fabric or browse the various books displayed on the same hemp and bulrush cabinetry that exists throughout the store.
      The back room is dressed in darker huesOriginal nineteenth-century polished wooden floorboards also feature in both rooms and intend to echo the outlet’s emphasis on local history.
      “Each Aesop store has its own character, and for this one, we responded specifically to its location in the heart of Cambridge,” concluded Plumb and Russel.
      Similar shelving found in the front room features various books on displayThis Cambridge branch is not the first Aesop store designed by JamesPlumb. The studio also created one in London’s Bloomsbury where water runs from shelf to shelf and a stone-based store in Bath that celebrates the city’s architectural landscape.
      Other Aesop outlets worldwide include a Tokyo branch defined by plaster and steel and a Toronto store featuring Victorian balustrades.
      The photography is by Oskar Proctor. 

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      Victorian balusters pattern surfaces at Aesop Yorkville store by Odami

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      The history of Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood informed this store for skincare brand Aesop, which local studio Odami has given ruby-toned walls and smooth beige counters.

      Odami, a design studio based several blocks west of the Aesop Yorkville shop, used features typical of the area as a starting point for elements of the design.
      Aesop’s third store in Toronto includes a “fragrance library” for testing the brand’s new aromas”The interior takes inspiration from the downtown area’s architectural and societal history – starting with the Victorian houses that populate the district, and the lanes and squares where communities have gathered over the decades,” said a statement from the brand.
      The profile of balusters found across nearby buildings and porches is translated as a closely repeated pattern that forms maple wainscoting around the interior.
      The profile of a Victorian baluster forms wainscoting around the storeWalls and ceiling are painted oxblood red, creating a dusky and intimate atmosphere inside the compact space.

      “The design is anchored by a sense of warmth, and sees traditional materials imagined anew,” said Aesop. “The geometry is akin to that of a bustling town square: a large and open space with smaller enclaves around its perimeter.”
      Walls, ceilings and furniture are coloured ruby red, while counters and sinks are beigeSeating and counters that are coloured to match the walls blend into the background, while units that have sinks for testing skin and hair products stand out in pale beige.
      The largest basin is positioned in the centre of the store, incorporating three faucets and doubling as a tea station.
      The wall colour creates an intimate atmosphere, while allowing the signature Aesop bottles to stand outA slender, metal light fixture is suspended horizontally above, directing light from a trio of tubes down onto the central counter.
      Three pale-toned cylinders set into the back wall form a “fragrance library” for the brand’s growing collection of aromas.

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      Two tubes display the signature Aesop bottles, while the third has a clear front and acts as an infusion chamber for items of clothing.
      Odami was founded in 2017 by Spanish architect Aránzazu González Bernardo and Canadian designer Michael Fohring, and has completed several interiors in its base city.
      The central countertop includes a long sink and also doubles as a tea stationThey include the Sara restaurant, where a roughly plastered wall curves over the dining area, and a renovated 1980s apartment with a green-painted sunroom.
      This is the third Aesop location in Toronto, following a store designed by MSDS on Queen Street West, and another in the Downtown district.
      The history of the store’s Yorkville location provided references for its designThe brand regularly collaborates with local architects and designers on its store interiors around the world.
      Among the most recent are an outpost in Tokyo by Case-Real that features coarse plaster walls, and another in London by Al-Jawad Pike that’s filled with red sandstone from Scotland.
      The photography is by John Alunan

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      Case-Real contrasts plaster and steel inside Aesop store in Shinjuku

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      Coarse plaster walls offset glinting stainless-steel display fixtures in this restrained store that architecture studio Case-Real has designed for Aesop in Shinjuku, Tokyo.The Aesop store occupies a glass-fronted retail unit in Shinjuku, a buzzing, tourist-heavy ward of Tokyo populated with bars, eateries and neon-lit billboards.

      Case-Real used just two materials to create the store’s simple interior
      When it came to designing the store’s interiors, Case-Real wanted to capture both what it describes as a sense of “artificial chaos” that permeates Shinjuku and the natural quality of Aesop’s skincare products.

      The locally based studio decided to use two contrasting materials that it felt reflected the dichotomy of natural and artificial – plaster and steel.

      Plaster covers the store’s walls, while steel has been used for display fixtures
      All of the store’s gently curving walls are coated with coarse beige plaster, which leaves behind a textured surface finish.
      The same plaster has been applied to a section of the store’s facade, creating a simple backdrop for Aesop’s logo.

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      Paint in the same beige hue has been washed across the ceiling and floor.

      A counter where customers can test products is also made from steel
      Shiny stainless steel has then been used to craft a series of lengthy display shelves that bend in line with the walls and several low-lying cabinets where extra stock can be hidden away, complete with steel handles.
      The metal has additionally been used to make the store’s service desk, as well as a long counter inbuilt with round washbasins where customers are invited to test out products or observe demonstrations from staff.
      A border of steel has also been created around the entrance doorway.

      Plaster gives the walls a rough surface finish
      The only other feature that Case-Real has incorporated in the store is a chunky plaster bench seat supported by cylindrical steel legs.
      It has been placed directly in front of a window that looks onto the busy streets of Shinjuku, allowing customers to quietly sit and people-watch.

      Plaster also appears on the store’s facade
      Case-Real was established in the year 2000 and is led by designer Koichi Futatsumata. Four years ago, the studio designed the interiors of another Aesop store in the Japanese city of Sapporo, covering its walls with locally-sourced volcanic stone.
      The studio’s Aesop Shinjuku store is shortlisted in the small retail interior category of this year’s Dezeen Awards. It will compete against projects such as the Pinocchio, a tiny 4.5-metre-wide bakery in Yokohama, and the Glossier pop-up in Seattle, where products are displayed amongst grassy mounds covered in wildflowers.
      Photography is by Daisuke Shima.
      Project credits:
      Design: Koichi Futatusmata, Yuki Onita (Case-Real)Construction: &SLighting plan: BRANCH lighting design (Tatsuki Nakamura)

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