A decade since visvim inaugurated its flagship store at the striking GYRE shopping centre on Omotesando dori, a highly prestigious shopping artery in Tokyo, the cult apparel brand has fully revamped the premises. The new interior design, meticulously created in-house and under supervision of Hiroki Nakamura, the brand’s creative director, sees an opposite, more homeland-inspired aesthetic and a lighter colour palette. Upon entering the visvim store, shoppers pass a series of suspended Noren, traditional pieces of Japanese fabric which serve as dividers and are hung across the entire breadth of the store’s wide entrance. Once inside, they instantly see cultural symbol. A large Shimenawa, a decorative element often seen at Shinto temples, dangles from the ceiling on one side of the retail space, perfectly aligned with an elongated counter right below.
A similar yet smaller counter sits at the end, dedicated to Little Cloud Coffee, the brand’s coffee corner, while a configuration of fourteen timber pedestals, retained from the previous interior setting, aligns right in front. Mind you, the aforementioned counters have been crafted with so-called Naguri processing, an old method in which the surface of the wood is made intentionally uneven to create a slightly rougher surface. Another striking difference is the floor, which now comprises ivory coloured limestone paving stones sourced from the Ryukyu Islands. The closet fixtures which were unique in their scale as well as their operating mechanism have undergone updates in design and size, significantly altering the visibility within the space of the store and allowing more daylight in along the way. The renewed visvim store carries the brand’s full range of men’s apparel, accessories and shoes.
visvim
GYRE, 5-10-1 Jingumae, Second Floor (Harajuku)
Tokyo 150-0001
Telephone +81 3 54685424
Daily 11am-8pm
Publishers Note
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