tokujin yoshioka-designed issey miyake store in kyoto connects innovation with tradition

a new issey miyake store opens in kyoto

tokujin yoshioka has designed a new retail space for issey miyake‘s ‘a-poc able’ brand in kyoto, japan. opening today, (thursday, september 23), the clothing store connects innovation with tradition, combining a forward-looking interior with a quaint japanese townhouse exterior. 

images courtesy of tokujin yoshioka

‘contrast of history and future’

to design the new store, tokujin yoshioka took inspiration from the a-poc able issey miyake brand, which focuses on ‘next-generation clothing’. the designer kept the interiors light and airy in contrast with the existing dark timber structure and inserted integrally molded aluminum fixtures to display carefully selected clothing pieces. 

‘like the manufacturing of issey miyake, which fuses technology with handcrafts, this space expresses the contrast of history and the future,’  says yoshioka.

the new store occupies a roadside site in kyoto

‘machiya’ is a traditional type of wooden townhouse found across japan

the old timber structure contrasts with the new interiors

items of clothing are carefully hung on aluminum fixtures

‘this space expresses the contrast of history and the future’ — tokujin yoshioka

project info:

name: a-poc able issey miyake / kyoto

location: 106 fukunagacho, sanjo-agaru, tominokoji-dori, nakagyo-ku, kyoto-shi, kyoto, japan

design: tokujin yoshioka

year: 2021