Spoon & Tamago - japanese art, design and culture

A series of box-like units form a small mountain in a hip Tokyo neighborhood. This is Kashiyama Daikanyama, a new, multi-purpose commercial complex from Japanese clothing retailer Onward. In addition to selling actual clothing, the 6-story structure also includes a café, art gallery, restaurant, bar and lounge space, and is part of a larger trend in which brands bring multiple retail experiences under a single roof.

Although now a global brand, Onward’s humble beginnings date back to 1927 when Junzo Kashiyama founded Kashiyama Trading. The yama that appears in both Kashiyama and Daikanyama means ”mountain“ in Japanese, and this is expressed through both the architecture as well as the logo of the site. It’s a cohesiveness achieved by integrating architecture with art & graphic design, something that Nendo, the design mastermind behind the project, has been doing a lot more of recently.

“The interior of the complex was designed to emphasize the structure’s external characteristics and the overall concept of the project,” says Nendo. “This was done with the mix of materials and subtle transitions of colors and textures to separate or relate between different utility areas in the overlapping sections of the boxes.”

If you’re in the area and would like to visit Kashiyama Daikanyama, it officially opens to the public today, April 2, 2019.