In the early 2000s, Japanese fashion designer and entrepreneur Setsumasa Kobayashi attended a Phish Festival in Limestone, Maine. It was one of the largest Phish concerts ever and Kobayashi remembers the music, the campground and the roughly 60,000 attendees who seemed to be living an alternative lifestyle, removed from the everyday hustle and bustle of the city. This, he says in an interview, became his inspiration for creating a secretive mountain getaway where he could use and test his outdoor-themed goods that he built his company on.
Kobayashi’s mountain cottage is nestled deep in Ogawayama, a mountainous region of Nagano that’s often referred to as the Yosemite of Japan. It was built in 2008 by architect Shin Ohori, a good friend of Kobayashi’s. We wrote a short article about it in 2009, but with very little context or information.
There are some good photos of the exterior over on the architect’s website, but now fashion label Beams has sent a reporter and photographer to see what the inside actually looks like. And to talk to Kobayashi himself. Unfortunately, the interview is only in Japanese.
