Needless to say, the fame of MoMA is global, and the art institute cleverly banks on the appeal through retail. Every design aficionado who’s been to New York City knows about the MoMA Design Store in the premises of the revered museum, but few know about the outposts overseas. Mind you, the MoMA Design Store has branches in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hong Kong, and very recently a new store has opened its doors in Fukuoka. The newest MoMA Design Store occupies a unit on the second floor of One Fukuoka Building, a newly opened 19-storey, mixed-use structure in the heart of the city, housing an abundance of shops, offices, and even a five-star hotel. The interior design, created by acclaimed Tokyo-based architecture and design practice MOMENT Inc., is based on a concept which reinterprets the Japanese architectural idea of Ma—the sense of space, pause, and relationship between elements.
This has resulted in a/ bold diagonal black and light grey division derived from sightlines, which not only adds an intriguing visual tension to the setting, but also serves as a dynamic backdrop for various display units, cabinets and wall-mounted shelving. The material palette includes locally sourced cedar, finished with a polished black treatment, and artisanal Tajimi tiles, both selected to accentuate a distinctly Japanese aesthetic. The retail space also comes with a flexible system that naturally accommodates changes in merchandise and display over time. This continuously evolving approach was inspired by the adaptability found in traditional Japanese architecture. The new MoMA Design Store stocks a tightly curated range of design merchandise, and mind you, part of the revenue supports the museum’s exhibitions and educational programmes. © superfuture
MoMA Design Store
One Fukuoka Building, 1-11-1 Tenjin, Second Floor
Fukuoka 801-0001
Telephone +81 92 75211270
Daily 11am-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.
