What do we use cookies for?
We use cookies to enable the use of our platform’s paid features and to analyse our traffic. No personal data, including your IP address, is stored and we do not sell data to third parties.
Morioka Shoten designed by Kotaro Watananbe, Tokyo. Photography: Nacasa & Partners, Miyuki Kaneko
Morioka Shoten designed by Kotaro Watananbe, Tokyo. Photography: Nacasa & Partners, Miyuki Kaneko
Morioka Shoten designed by Kotaro Watananbe, Tokyo. Photography: Nacasa & Partners, Miyuki Kaneko
Single-minded
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.
Most Recent
1
What's next for sustainability? Collective action:
As global heating reaches boiling point, Andres Colmenares, co-director of...
2
How alcohol brands can look out for men’s wellbeing:
As the definition of nutrition broadens to include mental wellbeing, men are...
3
Why internal culture is crucial for business success:
Businesses are swapping productivity and peak performance for a culture of...
4
Exhibition: Objects for a New Kind of Society:
At Dutch Design Week 2021, Dutch Invertuals and The Future Laboratory are...
5
Emerging Youth: AfroLATAM:
Despite historical socio-economic disadvantages, Black Latin Americans are...
6
Five ways automation is boosting physical retail:
As retailers work to future-proof stores, technology and automation are...
7
Next-generation Watch Market:
An industry long steeped in traditional values, the luxury watch sector is...
8
Data-driven Escapes:
Designing expertly tailored experiences for travellers, media and technology...
9
How to optimise skin longevity at a molecular level:
Carolina Reis Oliveira, co-founder of One Skin, on why we should be...
10
Sideline Studios:
With the Creator Economy booming, broadcast studios are becoming an...
11
Material innovation will build resilient cities:
These five projects from London Design Festival 2021 show how designers can...
12
How reverse engineering can future-proof our food:
Adam Maxwell, CEO of Voyage Foods, explains how reverse engineering can...
13
What’s next for the entre-celebrity?:
From deep diversity training to TikTok-famous consultants, the C-suite...
14
Flower Therapy:
With consumers turning to the natural world as a wellbeing resource, brands...
15