Best known for being one of Japan‘s former capitals, the landmark Todai temple, and hordes of cutesy free-roaming deer, Nara now gains a major new attraction. Well, sort of. Situated on the outer fringes of town, in the Oji-cho area, is Laughter, a striking, newly opened women’s hair salon. The salon, named after the owner’s personal goal to create a place that produces smiles and joy, occupies an 89 sqm. (958 sq.ft.) unit on the ground floor of an engineering company’s modern head office building, and features an understated interior design by SIDES CORE, an architecture and design practice based in nearby Osaka. The space comprises a lower front level and a mezzanine back level, and features a setting that cleverly makes use of the building’s concrete shell while adding only a handful of interventions.
Upon entering the premises, clients find a reception desk on one side, and the cutting area on the other, serving three clients at a time in a semi-private setting with wooden dividers. Laughter‘s reception desk setting is embellished by a ball pendant light, and directly opposite, it’s three suspended circular mirrors which add a finishing touch. Almost halfway, a matching timber divider of the same height as the mezzanine demarcates the cutting area, concealing the shampoo area right next to the staircase. On both sides of the shampoo area, fully encapsulated in timber, a back room and restroom are situated. Interestingly, Laughter‘s mezzanine is entirely empty, and serves as an occasional studio space for filming hair styling in the salon or as a gallery space. The Laughter salon’s menu lists haircutting, which includes washing and a blow-dry, colouring, and perms, in addition to head massages and hair beauty treatments.
Laughter
1-8-4 Katsushimo (Oji-cho)
Nara 636-0011
Telephone: +81 745 448301
Tue-Sun 9am-8pm
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.
