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      Karimoku opens Kyoto showroom informed by traditional houses and temple gardens

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      Designer Keiji Ashizawa has created the interior of Japanese furniture brand Karimoku’s second showroom, which features a combination of its own wooden furniture and pieces by local artists and artisans.

      Set in a three-storey building, the brand describes Karimoku Commons Kyoto as a “hybrid space”, which will function as a showroom and also house office spaces for employees.
      The space is located inside a former machiya – a traditional Japanese wooden townhouse – in Kyoto, a city known for its temples, Shinto shrines and gardens.
      The showroom is located in a Kyoto townhouseAshizawa, who has worked with Karimoku for years and also designed its first showroom in Tokyo, looked to the history of both the city and the building when designing the interior.
      “I really wanted to use the language of the townhouse and also took inspiration from Kyoto gardens,” Ashizawa told Dezeen.

      For the showroom’s ground floor area, he drew on the doma areas in traditional Japanese homes, which had bare dirt floors and functioned as a bridge between the indoors and the outdoors.
      It features wood furniture and wood panelling by KarimokuHere, Ashizawa placed furniture in light-coloured wood, including chairs by British architect Norman Foster and pieces by Danish studio Norm Architects and Ashizawa himself.
      The floor is grey concrete, which was matched by pale-grey plaster walls and a ceiling in the same colour.
      Art and ceramics by Japanese artists decorate the spaceWooden slats, of a kind traditionally used in Kyoto homes and stores to let light into buildings while maintaining privacy, cover parts of the glazing at the front of the room.
      Light wooden panelling by Karimoku hides built-in storage spaces and functions as a shelf.
      The first floor has a darker colour paletteOn the first floor, Ashizawa chose to use a darker colour palette, with furniture pieces in smoked oak wood and flooring and wall panels in dark wood.
      “When you visit a tourism house or a temple in Kyoto, the old wood, like on the temple floors, is a very dark colour,” he said. “I thought such a colour had to be the key colour [for the project].”
      The layout of this area also drew on the walkways and paths of Kyoto’s temple gardens.
      “It’s more of a guide to how to articulate the space,” Ashizawa explained. “We can think of the furniture as an art piece or a stone – it’s a kind of installation.”
      A wall alcove functions as a tokonoma display spaceThe top floor of Karimoku Commons Kyoto will function as a “library space” and showcase the latest collections and collaborations from the contemporary Case Study, Karimoku New Standard, MAS and Ishinomaki Laboratory brands.
      Throughout the showroom, earthy ceramics and rough-hewn sculptures by Japanese artists were used as decoration, which add to the organic feel brought by the wood.

      Keiji Ashizawa draws on “whiteness of tofu” for tactile Saga Hirakawaya restaurant

      Pieces by ceramics brand Nota Shop in the nearby Shiga prefecture and vases by Kyoto artist Ai Ono were among the objects chosen for the space by stylist Yumi Nakata, who worked with Ashizawa on the project.
      These were placed on tables and shelves as well as in wall recesses informed by traditional Japanese tokonoma alcoves, where homeowners would display artistic objects.
      Keiji Ashizawa designed the interior of the showroom”There are so many places in which to show something,” Ashizawa said of Karimoku Commons Kyoto.
      “In a traditional Japanese house, there are many spaces like this, showing paintings, ceramics or flowers, which I think is one of the beauties of the culture of the Japanese house. In many ways, we tried to make such a space.”
      The top floor displays a variety of furniture piecesKarimoku, which is Japan’s largest wooden furniture brand, started out making traditional Japanese furniture.
      It now also works with a number of designers on the more contemporary sub-brands Case Study, Karimoku New Standard, MAS and Ishinomaki Laboratory, which are the four brands that will be sold in the Karimoku Commons Kyoto showroom.
      The Kyoto space is Karimoku’s second showroom after TokyoAshikawa hopes the space will help to promote a modern design aesthetic.
      “Karimoku is trying to promote modern furniture in modern life,” he said. “I need to explain about the Japanese living space situation – for example, in 1960, sixty years ago, we didn’t have much furniture in the living space.”
      “And then the modern living space came to Japan and people started buying their tables, chairs and even the sofa; it’s quite new, so people don’t necessarily understand how to use a sofa,” he added.
      “Japanese living spaces can be too messy, so it’s quite nice to show them like this.”
      Previous projects by Ashizawa include a curve-shaped tofu restaurant and a Blue Bottle Coffee shop in Kobe. Karimoku recently collaborated with Foster on a collection of furniture used in the architect’s Foster Retreat in Martha’s Vineyard.
      The photography is by Tomooki Kengaku.

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      Keiji Ashizawa draws on “whiteness of tofu” for tactile Saga Hirakawaya restaurant

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      Japanese designer Keiji Ashizawa paid homage to the food on offer when designing the Saga Hirakawaya tofu restaurant, which hopes to revitalise a depopulated community in Japan.

      Located in the hot spring resort Takeo Onsen in Japan’s Saga prefecture, the curved restaurant was designed to blend in with the surrounding environment, including a historical tower gate.
      The Saga Hirakawaya restaurant is located next to a historical tower gate”Tofu, a food culture rooted in the region of Saga prefecture, is the main ingredient of this restaurant,” Ashizawa told Dezeen. “Since tofu is a simple food, we chose materials with a sense of simplicity such as wood, concrete and walls finished in plaster to bring out the texture in the materials.”
      “With a background of wishing to use local materials, wood was used for the entrance, windows and undersurface of eaves to match the wood from Ariake, a furniture brand based in Saga.”
      Volcanic ash was used for the plasterThe studio also used shirasu – a type of volcanic ash from Mount Sakurajima in Kyushu – as a plastering material for the building’s exterior walls.

      Saga Hirakawaya has a curved design forming a semi-open interior courtyard, which holds a foot bath with hot spring water that aims to encourage the restaurant’s customers to eat and stay outside the establishment for longer.
      Wooden furniture matches the pared-down interiorInside the 435-square-metre restaurant, the interior matches the exterior with pale grey walls that nod to the food on the menu.
      “As the ceiling and walls are curved, pale colours are used to extend the light beautifully in the restaurant, complemented by the use of grey colours on the walls and floors,” Ashizawa said. “It also signifies the whiteness of the tofu.”

      Keiji Ashizawa adds Blue Bottle Coffee shop to Kobe department store

      The restaurant’s ground floor houses a shop selling tofu-based products and sweets, while the first floor is home to a restaurant serving onsen yudofu – a type of tofu made using hot spring water.
      An open atrium connects the shop and restaurant, which both feature large windows.
      The ground floor houses a shopCircular lamps made by local paper manufacturer Nao Washi hang over the tables while the wooden furniture was made by furniture brand Ariake, which manufactures in Saga prefecture.
      The decision to open the Saga Hirakawaya restaurant in Takeo Onsen was made by its owner, who was born and raised in the area and wanted to help revitalise the community, which has suffered from a population decline.
      Paper lamps hang over tables”Depopulation is inevitable in rural areas of Japan,” Ashizawa said. “But in order to revitalise a region, it is important to attract people to the area through tourism.”
      “The client decided to create a restaurant serving onsen yudofu, believing that the region’s unique culinary culture could be an incentive to visit the area for sightseeing.”
      A restaurant space is located on the first floor”We deeply sympathise with the client’s hope to make the most of the wonderful location in front of the historical tower gate of Takeo Onsen, an important cultural asset, and to combine it with the region’s unique food culture to attract tourists from both inside and outside of Japan, contributing to the revitalisation of the area,” he added.
      Other recent projects by Ashizawa include a Blue Bottle Coffee shop in Kobe and a mid-century-modern-informed residence in Tokyo.
      The photography is by Ben Richards.
      Project credits:
      Architect: Keiji Ashizawa DesignProject architect: Keiji Ashizawa, Kentaro Yamaguchi, Tsubasa FuruichiConstruction: Yamakami IncFurniture: Hirata Chair/LegnatecLighting: Saito Shomei/Nao Washi

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      Keiji Ashizawa adds Blue Bottle Coffee shop to Kobe department store

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      Japanese studio Keiji Ashizawa Design has created the interior of the Blue Bottle Coffee shop in Kobe’s Hankyu department store, taking advantage of its display windows to connect the cafe with the street outside.

      The 173-square-metre cafe, which shares the department store’s ground floor with a number of apparel brands, has five large display windows.
      To open the coffee shop up towards the street, designer Keiji Ashizawa turned one of the windows into a take-out counter.
      One display window was turned into a take-out counterThe remaining window niches were filled with blue built-in seating, creating a splash of colour among the wooden furniture.
      Inside the cafe, square-shaped and rectangular furniture nods to the graphic look of the facade and is contrasted by round tables and large circular ceiling lights.

      “The furniture is mainly made of domestic wood in collaboration with the Japanese furniture manufacturer Karimoku, who specializes in working with oak wood,” Ashizawa told Dezeen.
      Wooden furniture and terrazzo tabletops were used for the interiorThe studio also mixed in terrazzo amongst the wooden furniture to give the cafe a welcoming feel.
      “By placing a large terrazzo tabletop with fine textures created by mixing grounded glass into the material, it adds to the soft and welcoming atmosphere that identifies Blue Bottle Coffee and their hospitality,” Ashizawa said.

      Keiji Ashizawa builds Blue Bottle Coffee’s Tokyo outpost around volcanic-ash counter

      “It is also used for the low coffee table surrounded by the sofas, creating a sense of harmony and elegance throughout the space of the cafe,” he added.
      While the studio was unable to change the material of the existing rough concrete floor, the department store allowed it to create a discrete demarcation by polishing the floor underneath the central tables.
      Circular pendant lights were made from raw aluminiumLarge disc-shaped pendant lights add a sense of drama to the coffee shop’s pared-back design.
      “With the idea of creating a high ceiling within the space, the pendant lights were made from raw aluminum to complement the industrial structures,” Ashizawa said.
      “Six pendant lights are placed in the central space at equal distances in three zones, creating a sense of rhythm and spatial balance.”
      The concrete floor was polished in part of the cafeThe wooden furniture inside the Blue Bottle Coffe Hankyu cafe has mainly been kept in its natural colour, but Ashizawa added bright colour to some of the wood.
      “In the space with concrete structures, the yellow color was added to balance the combination of wood and concrete, and the blue color was placed as a contrast,” he said.
      “We also designed the space to fit in with the apparel brands that share the ground floor.”
      Shelves were painted a bright yellowAshizawa has previously created a number of cafes for the Blue Bottle Coffee company, including a Shanghai store decorated with traditional Chinese roof tiles and a Tokyo outpost with a volcanic-ash counter.
      The photography is by Tomooki Kengaku.
      Project credits:
      Architect: Keiji Ashizawa DesignProject architect: Keiji Ashizawa, Tomohiko Fujishita, Masaru KiotyaConstruction: TankDesign supervision: Miyachi Office/Kunihiko MiyachiLighting design: Aurora/Yoshiki IchikawaFurniture: Karimoku Case Study/Ichinomaki Laboratory by KarimokuMetal works: Super Robot

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      Kengo Kuma and Edition hotels create “oasis at the heart of the city” in Tokyo

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      Hospitality brand Edition has teamed up with Japanese architect Kengo Kuma to create a luxury hotel filled with plants in the Toranomon district of Tokyo, Japan.

      Occupying the upper floors of a high-rise building in the Tokyo business district of Toranomon, the 206-room hotel is the first outpost in Japan for the Edition brand, which partnered with architect Kuma on the interior design.
      The Tokyo Edition, Toranomon, features a lobby filled with plantsThe heart of the hotel is a two-storey lobby space bursting with plants, which guests arrive at after taking the elevator up to the 31st floor.
      “I wanted to prove that it was possible to create a real oasis at the heart of the big city,” Kuma told Dezeen.
      The hotel lobby features large beams covered with wooden slatsThe large, open atrium, which draws from the layout of Buddhist temples, contains a bar, restaurant and numerous different seating areas.

      The double-height space is broken up by several large beams covered with wooden slats, which also adorn the ceiling of the space.
      Wood is used throughout the hotel suites”The beams are primarily parts of the structure, but we didn’t treat them in a way that might disturb the interior,” Kuma said.
      “Rather, we took advantage of the beams, covered them with wooden louvres and elevated their existence to a symbol of the hotel.”
      Sliding partitions separate sleeping and living areas in the bedrooms and suitesThe abundant use of wood continues throughout the hotel, including the bedrooms and 22 suites, where Kuma also introduced sliding screens.
      “In traditional Japanese houses, movable partitions are often applied to enhance flexibility in the interior, and we extended the idea to the rooms at Edition,” he said.
      The Blue Room restaurant features deep blue upholsteryThe hotel largely sticks to the neutral colour palette and natural materials such as marble and wood that are characteristic of the Edition brand.
      Vibrant pops of colour have been introduced in the two restaurants, which are helmed by Michelin-starred chef Tom Aikens.
      The Jade Room restaurant features green upholsteryThe aptly named Blue Room, which occupies one side of the lobby space, features upholstery in deep hues of sapphire.
      The Jade Room, which adjoins the lobby, swaps the blue for vibrant shades of green and opens onto a verdant terrace overlooking the red-and-white Tokyo Tower landmark.
      A terrace overlooks the Tokyo Tower”It’s unusual to provide a green terrace on top of a high-rise building, but we dared to do so in order to connect the indoor and outdoor in a most natural way,” Kuma said.
      Other hotel amenities include a swimming pool, spa and conference spaces.
      The less aptly named Gold Bar, which is situated on the ground floor of the building that houses the hotel, combines black walls, floors, curtains and furniture with a white vaulted ceiling. An artwork hung above a fireplace on one side of the room is the only significant golden addition to the space.
      The Gold Bar features black walls and a white vaulted ceilingThe hotel, which opened last year, is the first of two Edition hotels planned for Tokyo, with a second hotel in the Ginza district of the city set to open soon.
      Previous Edition hotels include the West Hollywood Edition in Los Angeles designed in partnership with John Pawson and the Times Square Edition in New York City created with Yabu Pushelberg. Both hotels feature similarly plant-filled spaces.

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      The Edition brand is a partnership between Marriot International and renowned hotelier Ian Schrager, who is best known for co-founding the infamous nightclub Studio 54 in New York City in the late 1970s and 1980s.
      “I became acquainted with Ian in the 80s when I was studying in New York, and have admired his philosophy and sensitivity ever since,” Kuma said. “I believe our chemistry worked well and we could work together without much talking.”
      Black furniture and gold decorations feature in the Gold BarWhile the Tokyo Edition in Toranomon is the first Edition hotel in Japan, Japanese design has had a significant influence on Schrager’s work, according to the hotelier.
      “I have always had a spiritual connection with the approach and aesthetics of Japan,” Schrager said. “Their rationality, their simplicity, and their restraint has been the foundation of everything I’ve done.”
      “They are truly original thinkers but execute their ideas in such a humble and modest fashion,” he continued. “The end results are bold yet refined and shouts in a quiet way. It’s a sweet spot that is completely seductive for me.”

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      Bosco Sodi unveils remodelled Tokyo residence as family home and Casa Wabi extension

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      Studio Wasabi Architecture and Satoshi Kawakami Architects have created a home and artist residency in Tokyo for Mexican artist Bosco Sodi, founder of the arts foundation Casa Wabi in Mexico.

      Occupying a corner plot in the Sendagi district of Tokyo, Casa Nano 2.0 is a renovation of a postwar house constructed in the late 1950s.
      Casa Wabi founder Bosco Sodi has unveiled a home and artist residency in Tokyo”The house has a very simple facade system to protect the windows, a system called amado, where you can slide some metal windows and close them when there is a typhoon,” said Studio Wasabi co-founder Rafael Balboa.
      The 68-square-metre home has a simple facade with a gabled roof and ridges that jut out to create small awnings.

      The home renovated a post-world war two home in Tokyo”For the exterior, we only applied one material – which is called Excell Joint – so it looks similar to the original house in order to make it more natural and coherent with the neighbourhood,” said Balboa.
      Studio Wasabi worked with Satoshi Kawakami Architects to completely revamp the interiors for use as an extension of the Casa Wabi artist residency in Puerto Escondido, Mexico or as a home for founder Bosco Sodi and his wife interior designer Lucia Corredor.
      The home’s original cedar beams were maintained in the redesignAfter sponsoring 13 Mexican artists in the original Casa Nano at another location, Sodi needed more space and decided to move the residency into a larger space – Casa Nano 2.0.
      The architecture studios worked with Sodi and Corredor to open up the space, creating an open-concept kitchen, adding furniture and moving the original staircase.
      In order to open up floorplan, the architecture studio included a floating staircaseThe first floor of the two-storey, cedar-framed structure is concrete, and the second storey’s floor is made of cedar.
      The designers and construction company Washin Architects kept all of the old cedar beams and columns, as well as the windows from the original house to preserve the essence of the original building.
      The original windows were maintained”For us, it was also very important to be able to have blackout windows so we kept the original pocket metal windows of the facade of the old house to be able to close the windows completely,” explained Corredor.
      The team had to move the original staircase to open up the ground floor, so a floating steel staircase was placed against the wall at the middle of the structure, suspended from the existing beams.
      There are three living spaces on the second floor”This house, besides being part of the art residence of Casa Wabi, was designed to fit our family needs,” said Corredor.
      Storage space was another important factor in the design process, so the architecture studios created a shelf unit that hangs from the existing beams that stretch around the entire house.
      A shelving system surrounds the homeOn the second floor, three separate spaces were included to accommodate a family of five. The primary bedroom has a simple layout and connects to a small terrace.
      A central living area has a bench with a small reading nook and the seating area was furnished with a vintage French sofa from the 1950s and an old wood table from a local flea market.
      The spaces are divded by sliding panel doorsThe bunk bedroom at the end of the second floor was built for the kids or as another area spot an artist in residence and has access via a ladder to a small outdoor terrace.
      The three spaces are divided by Japanese paper sliding doors with overlaying glass thick enough to maintain privacy and let the light flow into the space.

      Read: Five Casa Wabi pavilions include Álvaro Siza ceramics studio and Kengo Kuma chicken coop

      Five Casa Wabi pavilions include Álvaro Siza ceramics studio and Kengo Kuma chicken coop

      The doors and built-in furniture as well as the ceiling of the second floor were made using Lauan wood.
      Corredor used furniture from the previous residence and items that were locally sourced to furnish the home.
      “We brought all the furniture we already had in the former Casa Nano,” she said.
      “Like our old wood table that we found in the flea market in UENO and our beloved Noguchi lamp to give warmth and light to the space.”
      The home’s exterior blends into the style of the neighbourhoodCasa Nano 2.0 will continue with its residency program, inviting four Mexican artists every year, each for a period of one month.
      “Japan has been life-changing for the artists that have been already,” Sodi said.
      “As it was for me when I was invited to an art residence in Tokyo almost 20 years ago.”
      Casa Wabi’s headquarters in Puerto Escondido was designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando and features yearly pavilions by international architects including a red brick chimney by Mexico City-based architect Alberto Kalach and a ceramics workshop by Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza.
      The photography is by Nao Takahashi. 

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      Td-Atelier and Endo Shorijo Design transform interior of traditional machiya house in Kyoto

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      Japanese design studios Td-Atelier and Endo Shorijo Design have renovated a century-old machiya townhouse in Kyoto with minimal interiors that intend to honour the home’s existing architecture.

      Called House in Marutamachi, the Japanese house was built over 120 years ago and is arranged across two floors on a long and narrow site.
      House in Marutamachi is a traditional machiya house in KyotoTucked between two other residential properties, the house is an example of the wooden machiya townhouses that were once common in Japan’s historical capital Kyoto but are now at risk of going extinct.
      “Traditional Kyoto townhouses are being destroyed at a pace of 800 houses a year,” Td-Atelier explained.
      “Old buildings don’t match modern life. However, we want to stop the decline of Kyoto townhouses by fusing tradition, design and new life.”

      The kitchen is encased in a white volumeTd-Atelier and Endo Shorijo Design dressed House in Marutamachi’s interior with new components including sleek tiles and geometric furniture alongside materials reused from the original house, as seen in the traditional team room.
      The studios retained the building’s wooden columns and beams but added white volumes to house rooms including the kitchen and study to avoid disturbing the existing architecture with harsh structural materials.
      The tea room was constructed using materials reused from the original buildingThese variously sized cubes were designed to mimic the contrasting heights of buildings in a cityscape.
      “The gaps and omissions created between the volume group and the existing columns, beams, walls and floors create continuity in the space,” Td-Atelier said.

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      Throughout the house, Td-Atelier and Endo Shorijo Design adopted a minimal material and colour palette including a combination of light and dark woods alongside smooth concrete.
      A thin, sculptural light is suspended above the timber breakfast bar on the second floor, where occupants can sit on clusters of subtle-coloured stools.
      Original features were maintained in the gardenOutside, a plant-filled garden features elements from the building’s original architecture such as sandy-hued lanterns and a chōzubachi – a traditional stone water bowl historically used for washing hands before a tea ceremony.
      House in Marutamachi was shortlisted for house interior of the year at the 2022 Dezeen Awards.
      Dezeen recently announced the winners of this year’s interiors categories, who are now competing to win the overall interiors project of the year award.
      The photography is by Matsumura Kohei.

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      Fourteen Stones Design revamps Tokyo warehouse into “coffee gastronomy” cafe

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      Tokyo-based Fourteen Stones Design has designed the Koffee Mameya Kakeru cafe for barista Eiichi Kunitomo in a former water transportation hub in Kiyosumi Shirakawa.

      Set in the Kiyosumi Shirakawa area of Tokyo, the coffee shop occupies a warehouse which Fourteen Stones Design renovated and extended “to preserve the appearance of the old warehouse as much as possible”.
      Koffee Mameya Kakeru is in an old warehouseThe studio removed the shutters from the front of the warehouse, adding a glass facade. The rest of the building, including the interiors, remains as it was – with minimal repairs made to the walls.
      It aimed “to make everyday coffee an extraordinary experience” with a full “course of coffee” served by baristas and the renovation has been designed to facilitate this.
      The white oak structure frames the coffee barA staggered rectangular frame of white oak at the entrance of the cafe, which echoes the coffee package design, dominates the interior space and provides a central visual motif for the scheme.

      This frame divides the entrance space from the main cafe where a U-shaped bar surrounding the barista workstations was placed.

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      The barista’s workbenches, which were made from black granite, were deliberately placed at the centre of the space to create “a stage set-up, which enables baristas to fully demonstrate their skills”.
      Besides the new seating area, restrooms, a kitchen, a laboratory and office space have all been renovated.
      Baristas work at black granite counters
      The service and bar countertops were made from “Jura Yellow” limestone. Featuring fossils from the Jura period, it was chosen for its texture and also for allusions to the passage of time – not only echoed in the coffee growing, roasting and brewing processes but also the journey of the brand from its inception 10 years ago.
      Fourteen Stones Design’s Yosuke Hayashi designed the custom furniture for the cafe in the same white oak as the frame structure. It was manufactured by Japanese company E&Y for the project.
      The space aims to create a “gastronomic experience” for coffee drinkersThe cafe’s owner Kunitomo believes baristas “act as a bridge between the customer and the roastery” and should be given “a social status comparable to that of a sommelier”.
      Baristas at Koffee Mameya Kakeru will serve single cups of coffee through to full courses of coffee, “elevated by the newly designed space to the realm of gastronomy”, according to the practice.
      Fourteen Stones Design has been shortlisted in the restaurant and bar interior category of this year’s Dezeen Awards. Other projects in the running include a rattan restaurant in Bangkok by Enter Projects Asia Co. and YODEZEEN’s Japanese restaurant in Kyiv’s city centre.
      The photography is by Ooki Jingu.

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      Ginza Ecological Map designed by Hakuten presents the “hidden story of Ginza”

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      Design studio Hakuten has created a three-dimensional map of Ginza, Tokyo, that presents the ecology that exists in the district.

      The Ginza Ecological Map, which was featured in the Japanese makeup brand Shiseido’s Hakuten’s window, was designed to “carefully express the impression of the location and the history of the city, with a hidden story of Ginza”.
      The map showcased the local ecology in the areaIt spotlighted the natural elements found throughout the district, including samples of trees, plants, insects and earth, with the intention of enhancing the local community’s knowledge of its district’s ecology. Each item was presented in one of 72 windows – similarly to how scientific specimens are exhibited in museums.
      The exhibition ran throughout 2021 and across two themes: Organisms, which presented insects and cuttings from plants, and Earth – showcasing the diversity of soils found throughout the district.
      Parts of the glothistle plant were arranged in a clock-like motif to represent the district’s Wako clock tower”We care­fully displayed this ecology in the window as if they were scientific specimens,” said Hakuten.

      “The exhibition ran throughout the year across two different ecological themes – Organisms and Earth – and brought to light a new and beautiful Ginza that had not been seen before in the form of the Ginza Ecology Map.”
      Ginkgo biloba trees were planted in Ginza in 1906The materials were collected during a number of fieldwork studies in addition to the knowledge gained from speaking to people local to Ginza. Once collected, the items were exhibited in creative ways with the aim of becoming a tool to communicate the connection between Ginza’s natural world and society.
      For example, the plant named glothistle was collected from under the city’s Wako clock tower, and as part of the exhibition was displayed in a clock-like motif to represent it.

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      In addition, the district’s ginkgo biloba trees were planted in 1906, and according to the designers, they represent a “turning point for modernisation in the city”.
      As a nod to the tree’s heritage in the district, images of Ginza’s buildings were printed onto the collected ginkgo tree leaves as part of the exhibition.
      The exhibition showcased a number of plants and insects”Unlike most window displays that show objects and installations that only suit its occasion, not only did Ginza Ecological Map provide a new perspective of Ginza city, but through research from local residents it also expanded into a communication tool between the city and the people,” said Hakuten.
      “By looking at the usually unseen ecology that exists in a metropolis, we were able to rethink the relationship between the city, people, and nature in an attempt to approach a more sustainable society.”
      Earth was collected as part of the exhibitionAs part of the Earth theme, the colour of the soil across the district was documented, including samples collected from sidewalk ditches and from around various plants such as dogwood and camellia.
      The exhibition also shed light on creating a number of creative resources from the city’s soil – including pottery and crayons – and clothing dyed using local plant’s pigments.
      The map featured in the Japanese brand Shiseido’s windowAccording to the studio, the pandemic provided the opportunity to reflect on the human-nature relationship as Ginza was “emptied” because of the pandemic.
      The project was conceived of this change, and aimed to rethink the district’s approach towards creating a society more mindful of enhancing and protecting its nature.
      The exhibition also presented the ways in which local plant pigments can be used as textile dye”In Covid-19 where we were provided with more opportunities to deeply reflect upon the global environment, this project allowed us to rethink the relationship between the city, people, and nature in an attempt to approach a more sustainable society,” said Hakuten.
      Ginza Ecological Map has been shortlisted in the exhibition design category at this year’s Dezeen Awards alongside, Weird Sensation Feels Good – The World of ASMR, Greenwood Rising: Black Wall Street History Center exhibition and Journey of the Pioneers.

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