Kengo Kuma Designs A Tokyo Café With A Dynamic Facade

The scales of a living fish are not a typical starting point for a design concept. Yet this is an idea that underpins Wakuni Shoten, a café in suburban Tokyo by Japanese architect and Interior Design Hall of Fame member Kengo Kuma that boasts a rhythmic three-dimensional facade of more than 700 verdigris copper plates repurposed from a shrine.

The tidy 600-square-foot spot occupies a former tobacco store in a 55-year-old wooden building on a quiet shopping street in Higashimurayama. The project was helmed by local sheet-metal artisans aiming to revitalize the neighborhood and create an innovative community base. Inside, coffee and Shiba dog-shaped cookies are served amid such crafted brass details as angular counters and shapely pendant fixtures, the warm metal juxtaposing the concrete flooring and black plaster walls.

But it’s the facade that really defines the spirit of Wakuni Shoten. The geometric pentagonal plates—layered, sculptural, origamilike—were formed out of recycled materials from the roof of Hayatani Shrine in Hiroshima, using a technique by metal artisan Tomokazu Uchino. Their patinated surfaces, in an organic spectrum of greens and blues, are in a constant state of transformation, evolving with the shift of time, weather, and light. “Our aim was to breathe new life into the abandoned building,” Kuma says, “into architecture that had been long dead.”

Kengo Kuma Captures Wakuni Shoten’s Spirit Through Sustainable Craft

Joseph Duclos Arrives in Paris With a Timeless Boutique

Paris seems hard-pressed to need another luxury label. Still, the city has welcomed Joseph Duclos, a high-end boutique carrying a 21st-century collection of handbags and accessories with roots dating to the 18th century, when the brand was first established as a leather tannery in Lectoure and received the imprimatur of Louis XV. Today, thanks to company CEO Franck Dahan and artistic director Ramesh Nair collaborating with French designer Tristan Auer, the premier Joseph Duclos has debuted in a 4,300-square-foot environment that’s as chic as its location, steps from the Palais de l’Élysée.

“Since this is the first shop, I did it as a tailor does a suit,” begins Auer, who’s middle name could easily be luxury, having designed yachts and custom cars as well as recently revamped the Carlton Cannes hotel mere months before the annual film festival rolled out the red carpet. “My responsibility was to let people discover it.” Adds Nair, “It’s important that customers understand the technique,” referring to how each bag is handmade by a single artisan.

Behind the Design of the Joseph Duclos Boutique in Paris

Walk Through the Joseph Duclos Boutique 

FROM FRONT:

Thierry Lemaire: Sofa, Table (VIP).
Red Edition: Custom Chair (VIP), Custom Tables (perfume/candle).
living divani: sofa (perfume/candle).

THROUGHOUT:

les marbreries de la seine: marble.
tandem architecture: architect of record.
rdm: general contractor.