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Joanna Kawecki

Stories

Let intuition guide your designs: Koichi Futatsumata

Let intuition guide your designs: Koichi Futatsumata

Just how much do you trust your intuition? Japanese architect and designer Koichi Futatsumata designs based on his senses rather than a clear planning method, or academic research. We find out how it all comes together.

Keiji Ashizawa on the beauty of harmonised simplicity

Keiji Ashizawa on the beauty of harmonised simplicity

It all starts with context and materiality for Japanese architect and designer, Keiji Ashizawa, whose work can be defined by harmonised details through an emphasis on simplicity and curated collaboration.

Jun Aoki: Giving a century-old museum a glass face lift

Jun Aoki: Giving a century-old museum a glass face lift

How can a historical building remain relevant for the next century? Architect Jun Aoki transforms a key Kyoto cultural site for contemporary relevance.

Making Swedish minimalism meet Japanese aesthetics

Making Swedish minimalism meet Japanese aesthetics

Housed within a 1920’s former bank, Tokyo welcomes new boutique hotel designed by Claesson Koivisto Rune inspired by “aimai” (erasing borders) featuring a series of micro-spaces including a cafe, retail and fine dining.

A Japanese zen oasis in Kyoto’s forest

A Japanese zen oasis in Kyoto’s forest

How can design reimagine and add value to modern luxury today? Situated in a secluded and undisturbed forest in Kyoto’s north, the new Aman Kyoto designed by Kerry Hill Architects is a minimalist respite surrounded by nature.

Integration: The key ingredient of CASE-REAL

Integration: The key ingredient of CASE-REAL

One of Japan’s leading architecture and design firms, Case-Real looks to integration as a key element across their practice, both in materials and environment.

Eat hot pot in the middle of a wetland

Eat hot pot in the middle of a wetland

Letting the landscape take centre stage, this Hot Pot restaurant makes an impressive design statement weaving through the canopy of a wetland in Chengdu, China.

Wonderwall designs a Japanese winery ‘bunker’ inspired by winemaking

Wonderwall designs a Japanese winery ‘bunker’ inspired by winemaking

Set into a hillside in Japan, the concrete bunker aesthetic of this winery, designed by Wonderwall, belies a fastidious approach to wine-making that defines its layout.

India Mahdavi’s pastel-hued, otherworldly interior for Ladurée in Tokyo

India Mahdavi’s pastel-hued, otherworldly interior for Ladurée in Tokyo

Having orchestrated some of the most Instagrammed interiors around the world, India Mahdavi brings her signature aesthetic to Ladurée Aoyama.

Epic cantilevers: JINS Shanghai by Junya Ishigami

Epic cantilevers: JINS Shanghai by Junya Ishigami

Using exaggerated concrete cantilevered shelving, this retail space in Shanghai for a Japanese eyewear brand certainly catches the eye.

Suppose Design Office’s uncharted territory

Suppose Design Office’s uncharted territory

Finding a way to integrate multiple facets of the built environment, Japanese architecture firm Suppose Design Office not only creates contemporary projects but has opened a real estate agency and construction company all under one roof.

Could these be the next new masters of Japanese architecture?

Could these be the next new masters of Japanese architecture?

Japan has produced half a dozen Pritzker Prize-winning architects. Design is in the blood. But who is the next generation of design talent from this country – we take a look at the names you should know now and enjoy the beauty of the work they’re producing.

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