COS commissioned us to be a creative consultant to engage in effective brand exercise in Japan. The brand exercise was to illustrate COS’s brand pillars message – timeless, modern, classic, tactile through the brand’s wardrobe essential in collaboration with DAIKANYAMA T-SITE in conjunction with COS JAPAN e-commerce launch. Audiences were encouraged to engage with the COS design and learned more about the brand philosophy and design influences with art and architecture through the exhibition, also displayed with selection of books and literatures as the integral part of installation.
DAIKANYAMA T-SITE: Designed by Klein Dytham Architecture, DAIKANYAMA T-SITE is a cultural complex of books, music, and movie retail market by rental chain TSUTAYA in Japan. DAIKANYAMA TSUTAYA BOOKS, the TSUTAYA for grownups, is tied to the theme of “A Library in the Woods.” Three building wings connect together along Magazine Street, a 55-meter long aisle that cuts through the middle at ground level. From this tree-trunk like artery, six book departments branch out by category.Café space is housed within the complex to allow for leisurely in-store browsing.
- Published in Projects
Ace Hotel London commissioned us to create a series of Kyoto inspired cultural programmes to celebrate the opening of Ace Hotel Kyoto.
Sounds of Kyoto – We commissioned Bonjour Records, a multi-brand lifestyle retailer, to create 2 hours Kyoto-inspired playlist exclusively for Ace Hotel London to be played at their lobby for 2 weeks.
Kyoto Sake Tasting – In a collaboration with Natsuki Kikuya, the director of MUSEUM OF SAKE, we organised a sake tasting event to guide guests to the beauty of sake from Kyoto with an exclusive selection of five sakes from four different breweries. Alongside the tasting event, we designed and produced a booklet for the event to introduce Kyoto’s famed for its sake brewing history and culture.
Small Building of Kyoto – We organised the exhibition with a selection of images from ‘Small Buildings of Kyoto’, a publication that features a wide range of buildings in Kyoto at the lobby bar.
Sake tasting at Ace Hotel London with Natsuki Kikuya of Museum of Sake.
Small Buildings of Kyoto by John Einarsen.
Sounds of Kyoto by Shogo Misume of Bonjour Records x Ace Hotel London.
Bonjour Records is a leading multi-brand cultural and lifestyle retail, championing a discerning taste in sourcing the greatness of greats from all over the world whether it be music, fashion relevant in global and local cultural contexts. It is a platform and place whereby the curious and the open-minded merges.
MUSEUM OF SAKE is an intangible museum, founded by Natsuki Kikuya. It provides education and promotion of the craft of sake, connecting Japan to the UK and Europe through a range of special events and courses for the wider public and food industry.
Small Buildings of Kyoto is a photography book by John Einarsen, the founder of Kyoto Journal. It features 100 images of the quaint homes, businesses, workshops, as well as the occasional neighbourhood shrine and teahouse, that make up the fabric of Japan’s ancient capital.
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Touba London, a leading creative fashion and lifestyle showroom commissioned us to redesign their logo and website, to enhance their branding. We created an entire new logo for their art business, Le Salon Des Arts.
TOUBA LONDON is a London-based representative, distributor and agent for both established and exciting new international and British designers. They also provide a showcase for designers and artists to display their creativity and talent in fashion, photography and artwork by curating showroom presentations as well as photographic and artwork exhibitions in London, Paris, Tokyo, Copenhagen and New York.
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Working closely with Company Place and Kiosk N1C as collaborative project through brainstorming to conceptualising, Coal Drops Yard commissioned us and BUAISOU to produce a series of handmade and hand dyed flags as public arena installation, followed with a series of dyeing workshops where participants can learn natural Japanese indigo-dying techniques during London Craft Week. The project delivered hands-on Japanese artisanal craft for the first time in London.
BUAISOU (pronounced “boo-i-saw”), founded in 2012, is an artisanal collective, preserving and reviving the tradition of Japanese Indigo. Located in Tokushima Prefecture, an area of Japan known for producing Awa indigo. BUAISOU does everything from indigo cultivation and creating dye to designing and making products.
Coal Drops Yard is a new shopping and restaurant district in London’s King’s Cross. Coal Drops Yard was originally established in 1850 to handle the eight million tonnes of coal delivered to the capital each year, and was latterly the location of nightclubs Bagley’s and The Cross. The area reopened in October 2018, reinvented by the acclaimed Heatherwick Studio, which has interwoven a contemporary design with the surviving structures and rich ironwork of the original Victorian coal drops. Located within a reimagined set of historic buildings and arches directly adjacent to Granary Square and Regent’s Canal, Coal Drops Yard houses over fifty stores from a unique mix of established and emerging brands, along with cafés, bars, top independent restaurants and new public spaces.
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We created and assisted an overall promotional and marketing strategy for sonic branding event held by Bao Bao Issey Miyake titled “BAO BAO VOICE” during London Design Festival 2019. This was an interactive, multi-sensory event that demonstrates the unique and colourful designs along with the playful nature of the brand. Merging product with movement and sound, BAO BAO VOICE was an event that allowed users to engage with the structures, shapes and textures of the bags, like musical instruments.
BAO BAO ISSEY MIYAKE is a line of bags and pouches with the theme ‘shapes made by chance’. Since its inception in 2010, it has established a unique array of products through the pursuit of shapes made from simple pieces and diverse materials. BAO BAO ISSEY MIYAKE bags are made of versatile, triangular pieces, which take on many forms when used in practical situations. The construction lends itself to transformation through use, light and colour, which can change in an infinite number of ways. BAO BAO ISSEY MIYAKE merges serendipitous beauty, with colour, playfulness, and practicality for everyday life.
London Design Festival: Established in 2003 by Sir John Sorrell CBE and Ben Evans, London Design Festival celebrates and promotes London as the design capital of the world. London Design Festival has since earned the reputation as a key calendar moment of London’s autumn creative season, alongside London Fashion Week, Frieze Art Fair and the London Film Festival, attracting the greatest thinkers, practitioners, retailers and educators to the capital, in a citywide celebration.
- Published in Projects
We engaged in brainstorming, concept-building, treatment and managed the local creative production for Le Coq Sportif SS2019 campaign for Asian Pacific region, working with Laura McCluskey for photography and Chus Anton + Gregory Clavijo for videography.
Photography by Laura McCluskey
Videography by Chus Anton + Gregory Clavijo
Laura McCluskey is a British photographer and visual artist. Originally from Kent, Laura has lived and worked in London for the past ten years shooting fashion, portrait & documentary projects.
Chus Anton is a Spanish photographer based in London. Chus works across photography and film.
Gregory Clavijo is a French videographer based in London, working across film, photography and styling.
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We curated an exhibition ‘ONAJI UMI’ working closely with a French graphic artist Jean Jullien and Gallery Target in Tokyo. The exhibition showcased a series of hand-painting by Jean, who took inspirations from his experiences with the sea, brought his remembrance of travel and breeze of Brittany to Tokyo. We also initiated all the press activities and other merchandising collaboration with BEAMS, Fabrick, RUTSUBO, PAPIER LABO and one of the leading lifestyle Japanese magazine, BRUTUS Magazine.
Jean Jullien is a French graphic artist educated at London’s Central Saint Martin’s and Royal College of Art. His practice ranges from illustration to photography, video, costumes, installations, books, posters, and clothing to create a coherent yet eclectic body of work. He has shown work with Tate Museum, HVW8 (Los Angeles and Berlin), Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn, the National Museum of Singapore, Kemistry Gallery in London and MIMA Museum in Brussels, among others. He has illustrated for Colette, The New Yorker, National Geographic, Museums Quartier Vienna, Phaidon Press, UNICEF, Eurostar, Majestic Wines, The Wall Street Journal, Transport for London and many more. He currently lives and works in London.
Opened in 2007, Gallery Target mainly deals with the works of Andy Warhol and other pop art artists around the world. The gallery constantly holds exhibitions in their space located in Harajuku with various contemporary artists in and outside of Japan. They have previously held exhibition with artists such as Peter Sutherland, INVADER, ESPO, Larry Clarke, Ayako Rokkaku, Koichiro Takagi, KYNE and Yusuke Hanai.
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BEAMS + HARVEY NICHOLS – Pop-up
Working closely with BEAMS and Harvey Nichols, we launched “TOKYOJIN” , an exclusive curation, showcasing Tokyo’s passion for authenticity and artisan craftsmanship. This project celebrates Tokyo’s hybrid lifestyle, shining light on a current and real-life perspective of Japan through a unique edit of apparel, accessories and homewares.
TOKYOJIN, a curation for Harvey Nichols, is about the Tokyo man and his passion for authenticity. He is curious about the world, and he is an advocate of Japanese heritage. His creations are mindful of true craft, and his hybrid lifestyle is quintessentially modern. TOKYOJIN is a current and real-life perspective on Japan.
Harvey Nichols is the world’s leading luxury retailer, renowned for its exclusive edit of the most prestigious brands across womenswear, menswear, accessories, beauty, food and wine. Founded in 1831, Harvey Nichols today has stores in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh, Bristol and a dedicated beauty store, Beauty Bazaar, Harvey Nichols, in Liverpool. Internationally, Harvey Nichols has stores in Dublin in the Republic of Ireland and Riyadh, Hong Kong, Dubai, Istanbul, Ankara and Kuwait.
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Yu Nagaba and Turn commissioned us to project manage and deliver a new concept pop-up restaurant combining art and food for Genki Sushi in Hong Kong, featuring a large scale of hand-drawn murals, special-edition goods to launch the new direction and closer association with art.
Yu Nagaba is one of the most popular artists in Tokyo. His iconic liner drawing style captures the characteristic of a subject with as few lines as possible. Besides working with magazines such as POPEYE, BRUTUS, GINZA, Esquire UK, Plant Journal, he has worked with clients such as Panasonic, Softbank, Apple, Gap, Toyota, Netflix, Tokyo Metro amongst others.
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BEAMS + MR PORTER – London Collections Men
Working closely with MR PORTER and BEAMS, we presented a collaborative curation of six exclusive collections, a series created entirely by Japan-based brands. Each designer has applied their own unique style to the limited capsules, ranging from workwear to tailoring, underpinned by a signature fusion of both contemporary and traditional styles. The six brands featured in the presentation are ALOYE, TEÄTORA, MARVY JAMOKE, KICS DOCUMENT, SASQUATCHFABRIX, orSlow. The presentation was one of the official events held during the London Collections Men week.
The installation structure was designed by Schemata Architects/Jo Nagasaka to produce an effective and powerful layout to promote the six brands.
Jo Nagasaka established Schemata Architects right after graduating from Tokyo University of the Arts in 1998. Jo has extensive experience in a wide range of expertise from furniture to architecture. His design approach is always based on 1:1 scale, regardless of what size he deals with. He works extensively in Japan and around the world, while expanding his design activity in various fields. His main works include: Flat Table / SAYAMA FLAT (2008) / Aesop Aoyama (2011) / House in Okusawa (2009) / HANARE (2011) / VITRA Exhibition Stand at Fiera Milano (2015) /BLUE BOTTLE COFFEE (2015). Jo referenced laundry poles typically used in Japan to dry clothing at home for this special installation. Developing the concept: ‘forest of clothing poles’, the pipes were positioned at different heights and lengths, enabling the selection of garments to hang at different elevations.
- Published in Projects