The interior designing of a fashion boutique located off the hustle and bustle of Shijo-dori Street in Kyoto.
As you must walk through “Omoya” or the main building on the street to get to the shop, you can only see “noren,” a curtain-like cloth hung over the entrance of a shop, from outside, but once you walk past “noren” and along the path, you come to the two-storied “Hanare” or annex with two gardens.
Inside the shop is softly illuminated by natural light and we try to make the most of the light. The light is diffused by lauan board coated with “washi” or Japanese paper, and the struck brass and the aluminum expanded metal provide rhythmical shades.
Two identical rings are attached; one on the ceiling of the first floor and the other on the floor of the second floor, and both are attached at the same spot. Those identical rings try to connect the two spaces which you cannot see at the same time and have people feel a sense of each other.
Usually a white “noren” is hung over the entrance, on rainy days a blue one, and on Sundays and holidays an orange one. Passers-by will imagine the further space beyond the “noren” which changes its color in andante.
