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    André Fu designs colourful Casetify shop in Japan informed by shoji lanterns

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    Hong Kong-based architect and interior designer André Fu has completed the first global flagship store for electronic accessory brand Casetify in Osaka, combining traditional Japanese shoji paper lanterns with bright colours.

    The store, which marks the first retail project by Fu in Japan, was informed by the urban landscape of the Shinsaibashi neighbourhood in Osaka where the store is located.
    The store is located in Shinsaibashi, the main shopping area in OsakaAccording to Fu, the interiors aim to bring “the allure of the dynamic Shinsaibashi neighbourhood into the store”.
    “The overall concept is rooted in a vision to celebrate the distinct context of the project with contrasting shapes and forms, capturing the neighbourhood’s cinematic streetscape in a world where bold geometries juxtapose against each other,” said Fu.
    Curved shoji screens form the product display wallThe storefront was designed as a floor-to-ceiling shoji lantern framed in bright orange. Customers are greeted by a round display table encircled by cylindrical shoji screens, with the same circular arrangement mirrored at the back of the store and its upper floor.

    At the centre of the Casetify store sit cabinets that have been decorated with old phone cases, donated by customers in the recycling box located next to them.
    A secret shoji window at the rear of the ground floor can be slid open to unveil customised online purchases.

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    “A lot of my work is rooted in the idea of a journey that takes the contextual quality of each project into an architectural medium,” Fu explained.
    “The world of shoji lanterns that goes around you, that folds and unfolds, creates that effect,” he added.
    “It transports you from the everyday reality of the neighbourhood to an imaginary, illusionistic expression that blends a relaxed sense of luxury with the popping Casetify colours that the brand is so well known for.”
    Cabinets are covered with materials made from recycled phone casesFu is known for his work on luxury hotels and restaurants, including the Upper House hotel in Hong Kong, the Berkeley London, and the Mitsui hotel in Kyoto.
    More recently, he created a two-person “conversation” chair in collaboration with Louis Vuitton’s Objects Nomades, and furnished a model apartment inside the Jean Nouvel tower in New York with his homeware collection.
    The photography is courtesy of Casetify.

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      Loewe ReCraft store in Osaka finds ways to let leather live on

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      Fashion brand Loewe has opened a store in Osaka that, for the first time, is specifically dedicated to the repair and preservation of its leather goods.

      The opening of Loewe ReCraft continues the “obsessive focus” that the brand has had on leather since 1846, when it initially launched as a leather-making collective.
      The store is set inside luxury department store Hankyu Umeda, and – thanks to the presence of an in-house artisan – is able to offer maintenance services ranging from re-painting and stitching to the replacement of handles and eyelets.
      The store is exclusively used to preserve and repair Loewe’s leather goods”The launch [of the store] builds on Loewe’s ongoing commitment to the longevity of its handcrafted bags,” explained the brand. “It’s about the joy of craft beyond the new; it’s a commitment to breathing fresh life into long-cherished possessions.”
      The store’s open facade allows for uninterrupted sightlines through to the interior, which has been decked out in natural tones and materials.

      Dotted across the recycled-wood floor is a trio of chunky consultation islands, each clad with glossy emerald-green tiles sourced from Spain.
      Thread, cutting tools, and leather swatches lie behind a glass windowThe longest of the three islands has a thickset countertop made from limestone and wood.
      It features a series of inbuilt flat trays from which customers can select straps, charms or studs to customise their items. Monogramming services are also available.
      A window in a tile-covered wall looks through to a small repair room that houses a sewing machine, various cutting tools, swatches of leather, and a rainbow of different threads.
      Loewe bag models with surplus-leather patches and pockets will be for sale in the storeAnother tiled wall at the rear of the Loewe ReCraft store showcases bags crafted from leather left over from Loewe’s past collections, which customers can purchase.
      Limited editions of the brand’s signature Basket bag are also available to buy, updated with patches and pockets made out of surplus leather.
      As well as leather items, Loewe also makes clothing, accessories and pieces for the home.
      Earlier this year the brand released a pair of trainers covered in shaggy green raffia, emulating the appearance of grass. It also collaborated with French metal artist Elie Hirsch to produce a series of bulbous pewter and copper jackets.

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      Issey Miyake store in Osaka is splashed with water-themed details

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      Seating that resembles bars of soap and pipe-like clothing rails appear inside this Issey Miyake store in Osaka’s Minamisemba neighbourhood, which was designed by Shingo Noma.The store, monikered Issey Miyake Semba, is shortlisted in the large retail interior category of the 2020 Dezeen Awards.
      Japanese designer Shingo Noma created the interiors to reference Osaka’s long history of maritime trade – the city’s port has been in operation since before the year 300 AD.

      The store’s exterior features a sculpture that looks like a tap

      “Linking the city of water, Osaka, with the continuous circulation of interesting ideas that bubble up from making things at Issey Miyake to the image of the store, I arrived at the design concept of a ‘fount of creativity’,” explained Noma, who is also art director of the gallery inside Issey Miyake’s Kyoto branch.
      “If you turn on the faucet, there will always be a gushing flow of interesting ideas.”
      Water-inspired decor details have therefore been introduced at every point in the store. A four-pronged silver sculpture that looks like the handle of a traditional tap has been mounted on the facade, just above the brand’s logo.

      Concrete covers most of the store’s interior
      Inside, on the store’s ground floor, garments are hung from bending metal rails that have been shaped to mimic water pipes.
      The same pipe-like tubing supports the display tables, which all feature white, glossy countertops – almost reminiscent of the inner lining of bathtubs or sinks.

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      Guests can relax on the white, blue and grey seating poufs that have been dotted across the room. Each one has a wide, rounded form and a raised lip running around its outer edge, emulating the shape of a bar of soap.

      The clothes rails and legs of the display tables are meant to look like water pipes
      The same fixtures can be seen down in the store’s basement, which also includes an exhibition space. At the time of opening, it showed a series of works by Japanese illustrator Seitaro Kuroda, including his various depictions of boats and ships.
      Surfaces throughout the store, including the floors, have been washed over with concrete. The ceiling and its network of exposed service ducts have been rendered in white.

      An exhibition area can be found in the store’s basement
      Issey Miyake Semba will go head-to-head against five other retail spaces in this year’s Dezeen Awards. Amongst them is high-end fashion store The Webster, which occupies a rotund, pink-concrete building in Los Angeles designed by architect David Adjaye.
      Also on the shortlist is the streetwear brand Supreme’s San Francisco store, where studio Brinkworth has installed a huge skateboarding bowl.
      Photography is by Masaya Yoshimura and Copist.

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      Sugalabo V is Louis Vuitton's first restaurant

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      Louis Vuitton has opened a restaurant and cafe inside its new store in Osaka, Japan, with interiors fashioned by the brand’s in-house design team. Sugalabo V is the first restaurant that Louis Vuitton has created within one of its stores. It occupies the top floor of the brand’s recently-opened branch on Midosuji – a bustling […] More