The global shopping community has already taken note—Azabudai Hills, Tokyo‘s new upscale shopping grounds, is ready for business. As part of an A-grade urban redevelopment project with an abundance of lush greens, brands come from fashion and lifestyle’s upper echelon and go the extra yard to raise their profile. Needless to say, Hermès is present here, occupying a newly built two-storey boutique brimming with alluring offerings. Designed by Paris-based architecture practice and longtime collaborator RDAI, the interior design draws on a reverence for nature as well as Japanese architectural traditions, blurring the boundaries between interior and exterior living along the way. This design approach is evident when approaching the store as it’s cloaked in a semi-transparent glass façade that’s veiled in artisanal Washi paper.
The paper is backed by a layer of luminous panelling inspired by Haku, a traditional gold-leaf technique. The Hermès store comes with two entrances. One entrance leads directly to the men’s department, which connects to a central open space where the leather goods, jewellery and watches, and equestrian collections are displayed. Using the other entrance shoppers instantly find themselves in the women’s domain, immersed by silks, fragrances and jewellery. Both entrances are adorned by the signature Hermès ex-libris and Faubourg mosaic frames, which transforms into patterned beige granite and terrazzo pavement with Parisian and Japanese allusions. The women’s section is set across two floors and comes with two fitting rooms and a private salon. Mind you, another private space can be found upstairs where it’s paired with a lush rooftop garden.
As said, the stores at Azabudai Hills are all high-profile ventures, and the new Hermès boutique is no exception. To elevate the shopping experience even further, the premises are dotted with a string of curated artworks from both the Émile Hermès Collection and the Hermès collection of contemporary photographs. The range of works include drawings by French illustrator Jochen Gerner, nature photographs by American Terri Weifenbach and Frenchman Maxence Rifflet, in addition to a ceramic sculpture by the French artist Sylvie Auvray which forms part of an exhibition programme. For the store opening, architects Maki Onishi and Yuki Hyakuda of Tokyo-based practice O+H have been commissioned to create pictorial scenes crafted from a patchwork of Hermès silks, ties, and leather off-cuts that animate the windows. © superfuture.com
Hermès
Azabudai Hills, 1-3-1 Azabudai, Garden Plaza C
Tokyo 105-0001
Telephone +81 3 64265023
Tue-Sun 11am-7pm
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