Interview with YUSUKE SEKI —part 2
2/2
I was able to realise effective design that dramatically changes its space by the red line
— Yusuke Seki / Yusuke Seki Studio
photography: Takumi Ota, Tomooki Kengaku
words : Reiji Yamakura/IDREIT
continue from part 1
An entrance of the fashion store named ‘I SEE ALL’ in historical building in Osaka. photography: Takumi Ota
— Could you tell me about the fashion store ‘I SEE ALL’ next?
This was the request from a boutique owner who operates it in Osaka. Since the project budget was very low and limited, I initially thought it would be a difficult project, but then when I physically visited the place inside the historical building where the owner was planning to set up the boutique, I found some appealing elements, like the classic beam and the shape of windows, and I instinctively thought I could bring the best of these elements to create something new, and that was when I decided to accept the offer. Also, right after I accepted the offer, the shop name “I SEE ALL” was decided by taking in the name of old magazine, and we started moving forward with the interior designing of this shop based on the concept of “revealing everything without hiding anything”, just like how the name of the shop says.
Seki designed a 4.2-meter long, single line-like red shelve at the eye level. Inside the old building, there were quaint existing beams and openings.
— How did you come up with the idea of this eye-catching, long red shelf on the borderline between the backyard and the retail space?
I came up with the shelf from the idea of “drawing a line within the space”. This shelf, if you look at it on a piece of floor plan, looks like just 2 single lines being drawn on it, that people may think they are walls. I designed it by imagining in my mind that these 2 lines exist in between two-dimensional and three-dimensional space.
Also, when designers communicate with clients using floor plan papers, they usually draw red lines to write down remarks, so I took that idea and made it into a long, bright red shelf.
— It’s interesting how a customer needs to walk under this red shelf to access fitting room on the other side.
Yes, that happened because I placed the fitting room on the backyard side. I wanted to use the walls on both sides of this red shelf to provide structural support to it, instead of hanging it from above, so I figured out a better way to make this shelf by placing a steel material on top of another, and tried to reduce the weight of the whole piece as much as possible while ensuring adequate strength to it. It’s quite interesting to see a stick that’s more than 4m in length is being fixed to the walls only by its tips, because when you see it, you will think the stick is floating in the air.
Actually, they use this shelf freely in different ways, like placing their products on top, or displaying books. Also, the reason why I used only this red line to separate the retail area and the backyard, instead of building a new wall in between, is because I wanted to show this beautiful window at the end of the room that can be seen from the retail side.
A detail of the thin red shelf.
The front of the red shelves is the shop area and the back acts as the back room. When customers use the fitting rooms, they pass underneath the red shelves.
They has designed the unique drawers with exposed structure that represents store concept ‘I SEE ALL’.
— The drawers are all half open, which I think is unique.
Due to the limited budget, I removed the side panels of the drawers, and I designed them with the idea of reducing as many processes as possible. Since you can see what’s inside from sideway, the design of these drawers is connected to the concept “I SEE ALL”, just like the red shelf.
— I see. Everything is based on one consistent idea.
Yes, that’s right. For this shop, I was able to realise effective design that dramatically changes its space just because the thin red line is present right there. It’s my habit to pay extra attention to details that got created coincidentally regardless of designer’s intention, or unique designs I find in towns that look like someone had added there afterwards. I think this approach, together with the way I come up with ideas from the situation that’s specific to the location I’m in, worked well on my designing.
Also, I re-realised through doing this project that you can still design well even with limited budget.
Yusuke Seki Studio has designed Bang & Olufsen Pop-Up Store Kyoto. For the store, they created distinctive display table using site-cast concrete. photography: Tomooki Kengaku
— Lastly, could you tell me about the pop-up store for Bang & Olufsen that operated in Kyoto for the limited period of 3 months
This was the project to utilise the site where a boutique previously stood, and set up a pop-up store there for a limited period. As I heard the brand story of how all Bang & Olufsen products are carefully finished by artisan's hand, I wanted to express the space befitting their products by utilising craftsmanship. When I think about it now, it was the same design approach I’d taken for OGAWA COFFEE LAB. Typically a user can only see their store after construction is fully completed, so the user can't see the actual process of building the store, but I always want to convey the construction process to the users. Therefore, I decided to choose concrete that usually does not really show any traces of human hands, and try to present concrete through my design in a different way from other designers.
They designed the concrete-made display furniture in such a way that some of the wood forms remain.
The existing walls were painted white to waist height.
The counter was also designed with a combination of concrete and wood forms based on the same concept. For the floor, they installed white pebbles.
— Is that why you’ve used the cast-in-place concrete as a display stand?
Yes. I also had the thought to minimise as much waste since the shop would only be running for a limited period. I designed two of the four concrete forms to remain, and used the wood forms itself as part of the shelf.
For the forms, I thought about the Japanese traditions, and used ‘tsuga’ Japanese Hemlock, a material used in temples and shrines. Display tables in different sizes were also made from the same idea.
— Why did you keep the wood forms inside the shop after you removed them from concrete?
I wanted customers to feel the production process, so I lined them up together as if they were exhibits. Having Bang & Olufsen products with high degree of completion and the used rough forms in the same scene looked nice, with the contrast of having the collection of craftsmanship in one place. I hope you can also watch the work-in-place construction video.
Next to the Bang & Olufsen products the wooden forms, after demolding, were placed like an exhibit.
— It’s very unique for the shop to have the perspective to show its construction process, and is quite interesting. For the Bang & Olufsen pop-up store, you used tsuga wood and white pebbles that are usually used for alters in Japanese temples and shrines, but do you usually think of adding Japanese touch when you design?
No, I don’t think about Japan like that in a big scale. I don’t think about Japanese touch, nor how people from overseas will think about my designs. But then, since I am located in Japan, I think you can naturally see Japanese elements in my designs without me being aware of it. Also, there are differences not in designs themselves, but the delicate differences created by individual craftsman’s hands.
— Finally, could you tell me about what you value when you normally design?
I always hope that all members involved in building up a store will have great experience out of it. For example, if it’s a craftsperson, then I want him to feel the sense of accomplishment at the end of a hard working day. I want him to be able to take out something from his work, so that he can share his experience with someone when he goes out for a drink.
Creating something nice, or producing profit for a shop are minimum requirements, and I think it’s necessary to produce the results in the end anyway.
In my past project for the pottery shop ‘Maruhiro’, I designed a floor that made of uncountable abandoned porcelain bowls. During the construction phase, I think everyone could not understand why I did that, but in the end I could share the sense of accomplishment with everyone after the construction completed.
A detail of ‘Maruhiro Flagship store’ designed by Yusuke Seki Studio in 2015. He created stage-like floor made with abandoned ceramics. photography: Takumi Ota
They used approximately 25,000 pieces of ceramics for the floor material, with the idea of upcycling design.
Visitors can go up from the steps to the floor stacked with pottery. The cups and bowls were filled with mortar to ensure strength.
I am really grateful to have relationship of trust with all the workers. When I was a kid, I looked up to carpenters like they were heroes, but today it’s said there’s a trend for young people to turn away from becoming one of them, and that makes me sad. It’s a small thing, but if I request craftsmen to do rewarding jobs, I hope we can change this trend for the better.
Yusuke Seki, who sometimes have strong opinions that make his clients feel uncomfortable, says with a big smile, that if you want to create something great, then you should never ever compromise. There is a clear thinking behind the designs he draws and the materials he chooses. The sense of unity with the site that he builds through his interactions with the client and builders as a design professional, and his own unique eye for materials he selects, are what makes his designs different from other designs that exist in the world.
YUSUKE SEKI
Yusuke Seki Studio is a design team based in Japan, with spatial design at its core.
