It’s a lesser known shopping area to outsiders, but worthwhile to explore for refined palates nonetheless. We’re talking Setagaya, a leafy residential neighbourhood in the sprawling Japanese capital, and more specifically, the area around Futako Tamagawa Station. As the neighbourhood’s main transport hub, it has evolved into a meeting place with an abundance of retail over the years, and given the deep pockets of its dwellers, many a luxury brand has raised its profile here with a boutique if its own. The epicentre of upscale shopping is S・C Takashimaya, a large shopping centre anchored by the eponymous department store, and it’s right here where Paris-based perfume house Officine Universelle Buly has opened its fifth Tokyo outpost. Situated on the ground floor of the main building, flanked by the boutiques of Italian upper segment peers Bottega Veneta and Max Mara, it occupies a compact rectangular unit alongside one of the shopping centre’s westside entrances.
Similarly to all other Officine Universelle Buly boutiques worldwide, the interior design has been created by the brand’s co-founder Ramdane Touhami and his creative team at Art Recherche Industrie, a creative agency based in Paris. Blending old and new, an aesthetic mastered nowhere more effusively than here in the Land of the Rising Sun, the boutique sees an outer shell of moulded wooden panels, featuring a large cut-out alongside the entrance which allows in daylight. Inside, the classic wooden panels are paired with matching parquet flooring, but contrasting counters and cabinets of shimmering stainless steel. The aforementioned cut-out is filled with a shelving unit laden with merchandise, and right below along the entire length, sits a demonstration counter where customers can try out the brand’s collection of fragrances. The new Officine Universelle Buly store carries the brand’s fragrance collection, in addition to beauty products, grooming products, accessories, and scented candles.
Officine Universelle Buly
S・C Takashimaya, 3-17-1 Tamagawa, Ground Floor (Setagaya)
Tokyo 159-8701
Telephone: +81 3 64310507
Daily 10-8
Publishers Note
Just to be clear – superfuture® is a design blog and not a political commentator. No surprise there. The scope of our content has always been global and borderless, however that can often mean covering projects in countries where we will not agree with the politics or actions of those countries. In a world that’s as screwed up as ever right now, the focus of our support is to those designers, architects and other creatives who aim to make the world a more liveable one – as opposed to people that try their hardest to destroy it. So if a project hits our desk and we like it based on its design credentials, we may choose to publish regardless of its location or creators nationality. superfuture® has always been inclusive and hopes for all current wars, aggression, violence, hate and extremism to end.
