For some time, I’ve been doing research on the influence architecture and interior design has had on the world of retail for the past 60 years. I specifically have been focusing my research on retail spaces in and around fashion. The unique combination of fashion and architectural design had brought about a growing list of significant spaces from all over the world. Cultural and economic upswings, alongside the globalization of contemporary fashion made for a perfect opportunity for the creation of these space to take place. My goal was and still is to highlight these spaces, and begin to draw lines through history in order to properly trace their origins, acknowledge their significance, and examine their influence on there retail design landscape of today and the future.
Over the next few substack entries, I will be highlighting significant moments in retail design history around the world, and the people who were involved.
Japan and the influence of industrialization
My research begins right at the end of WWII in Japan. A country which saw significant loss with the nuclear bombardment of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Despite these devastating events, Japan was able to quickly rebound economically. With the support of countries like the United States, they were able to achieve significant economic growth. The main catalyst to this growth was shifting their focus towards becoming an industrialized nation. The Japanese government felt that if there were able to work more closely with local, private companies, it would in return promote this idea of industrial development. They did so by shifting resources to these specific industries. This in result, would in hopes, increase productivity. Their plan worked, and Japan saw a 350% increase in their industrial production. This time period is typically referred to as the Japanese Miracle. A common feeling brought about by industrialization is that “happiness is attained by material possessions”. The rapid production of goods and the support of that production from local government, creates a collective thought that “the more you make, the more people feel the need to have” also known as the golden arrow of consumption.
In this time of increased production and surge in consumption, Japanese fashion designers and interior designers experienced a wealth of local opportunity alongside a growing global exposure. For young, locally established fashion designers like Issey Miyake, Jun Ashida, Rei Kawakubo, Kenzo Takada, and Yohji Yamamoto, their designs began to be shown on the larger fashion stages like Paris, where they gained popularity. On the other hand, interior designers used this shift towards commercialism to explore new opportunities to design commercial spaces, fashion was these designers perfect client. In an industry where the focus is on the object being sold, importance was found in way that the object was to be presented. Young interior designers took the opportunity to use their schooling and training as an outlet to express interest in art, design, and culture. The joined forces with these fashion designers. This collaboration resulted in the retail shop interior taking on a new look and feel, one that could be classified as works of art. I’m going to highlight a couple of important and influential spaces that were designed around Japan at this time.
From-First (1976)
Probably the most significant space when it comes to fashion retail spaces in Japan would be the From -First building in Aoyama, Tokyo. This project single handedly shifted the idea of fashion retail on the entrepreneurial level. I won’t go deep on this project, you can see my entry here to learn more about it. This project opened the door for two of today's most influential fashion designers. The first being Rei Kawakubo's of Comme Des Garcons. Off the heels of a successful fashion debut in Paris, Kawakubo wanted to plant herself in the growing retail landscape that was already happening in Japan. In a strategic move, she wanted to have her first shop in the culturally emerging neighborhood of Minami-Aoyama. She designed the first shop with long-time collaborator architect Takao Kawasaki, whom she would continue to work with for many of her other spaces. The shop's interior featured walls and clothing displays cladded in white ceramic tile. The showroom also lacked mirrors as Kawakubo wanted the women that visited the shop to focus more on how they felt in the pieces rather than how they looked. The second designer Issey Miyake, saw the From-First building as a brilliant place and opportunity to open his first stand alone showroom. Miyake would commission a young designer by the name of Shiro Kuramata to design the space. He first saw Kuramata’s work in the Milk and Milk Boy showroom two years earlier. Miyake felt that Kuramata would be able to properly express the brand's identity through a retail experience. This showroom did not lack the magical touch that we now know from Kuramata. From the brushed aluminum walls, and custom hanging fixtures, to the large cantilever surface that seemed to just float in the space. Kuramata went on to design many more Issey Miyake showrooms all around the world
Comme Des Garcons/From-First | Minami-Aoyama, Tokyo | 1976
Issey Miyake / From-First | Minami-Aoyama, Tokyo | 1976
Kuramata went on to be a big influence in the interior design field. He designed about a number of retail shops for Issey Miyake from the 70s till the late 80s all over Japan as well as Paris and New York. Kuramata viewed the design of a store as an opportunity to design outside of the obvious consumerist target. He felt that 1“… there needs to be a statement about the act of commerce, a statement in the form of creation that goes beyond the mere fulfillment of a sales target…. Designing is about creating a form. The final concrete embodiment is, of course, the result of the design, but design should not be restricted to this. The resulting concrete form is a type of expression that comes to include abstract statements or thoughts that are formed during the process of design”.
Other designed by Shiro Kuramata for Issey Miyake:
Issey Miyake | Ginza | 1983
Issey Miyake Men | Minami-Aoyama, Tokyo | 1987
Uchida and Studio 80
Another important interior designer of this time was designer Shigeru Uchida. Like Kuramata, his design practice touched multiple disciplines like architecture, art, product design, interior design, and furniture design. During the 70s Uchida saw a unique opportunity to practice interior design in a productive and influential way. Corporations of this time began to understand the importance of design and that it would take like minded, creative individuals to bring value and depth to the projects that they had in mind. In response, Uchida joined forces with Turo Nishioka and Ikuyo Mitsuhashi to form Studio 80. They created the design firm to be able to properly position themselves in this growing time and create meaningful work. They would go on to design spaces for well known designers like Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto. Their spaces were seen as an evolved reflection of what was called “Japanese design” at the time. Uchida explains the essence of “Japaneseness” and its translation in his work. He stated that 2“When a Japanese designer creates a space, he/she will always subconsciously deal with the issue of the mind or spirituality that is inherent in that space. In other words, Japanese space was created specifically for the human spirituality, and the tradition continues to live on to contemporary designs”. A lot of these designs played on the idea of a minimally designed interior. With the use of minimal materials and an emphasis on horizontal lines. These spaces were designed to be as empty as possible. Allowing for the emphasis not to be on the space, but on the clothing being displayed. It was the creation of a plain interior designed vessel for its true self, the display of clothing. Uchida and Studio 80 used these spaces as an opportunity to speak to the “mind or spirit” or those that would interact with their spaces, a very Japanese way to approach the occupied space. What no better place, in a new, popular setting built and advertised to be frequented by people.
Y’s | Shibuya, Tokyo | 1984
Y’s For Men | Kobe, Hyogo | 1984
Yohji Yamamoto + Yohji Yamamoto Pour Homme | Kobe, Hyogo | 1986
These spaces and many others helped shape a new contemporary design scene in Japan, one which quickly spread to other spaces like restaurants, bars, and other specialty shops throughout Japan. Some of which still stand today, and many which were destroyed and forgotten about. Through these commissions, many of the designers were able to find work outside of Japan in Europe and the United States. Further exposing the world to a view of interior design.
Interview - “Shoten Kenchiku 14, No.3 (March 1963)
“Japanese Interior Design: Its cultural origin” - Shigeru Uchida (2007)