Signals & Stats : Daily Signals

Morioka Shoten designed by Kotaro Watananbe, Tokyo. Photography: Nacasa & Partners, Miyuki Kaneko

Single-minded

By Alex Jordan 28 : 08 : 2015 Morioka Shoten : Bookstore : Ginza

Tokyo – Morioka Shoten is a book store that has made the bold decision to stock only one book at a time.

Part gallery, part book store, Morioka Shoten applies the Japanese philosophy of zen to the retail experience
The store occupies a small room in Ginza’s Suzuki Building, former office of legendary graphic design office Nippon Kobo

Each week Morioka stocks a different book, inviting visitors to learn more about the author by curating the remaining space around some aspect of their work. For its opening exhibition, for example, Morioka featured a portfolio entitled PUNK by Japanese textile artist Junko Oki and used the remaining space to exhibit a series of her embroidery artworks.

‘An ordinary store would have a number of books, and a reader would buy a book and then start to imagine what the author might be like,’ says creative director Kotaro Watanabe. ‘Morioka Shoten, on the other hand, has the opposite relationship, in which a reader visits the venue, encounters the author and other readers, then purchases a book.’

The Big Picture: Brands that enable us to explore, discover and reveal qualities about the environments we are keen to engage with are coming to the fore. Find out more by booking your place at Beyond Borders, our Autumn/Winter 2015 Trend Briefing.