artist kei endo accurately details japanese hotel rooms with watercolor and gel pens

the artist’s desk

kei endo’s desk, an artist’s den: watercolor palette on the side, smudged colors after a thousand dabs of paintbrush and water droplets, gel pens and sharpened pencils, strips of paper with vibrant highlights and the colors’ name, and a sheet of paper taped on the desk. in this paper, the architectural designer details the hotel rooms, features, and fixtures around japan, a seeming reflection of the accommodations’ original blueprints.

born in kanagawa prefecture in 1992, the architect and color coordinator worked at an architectural design office and as a color-scheme forefront. today, her keen eyes observe the lines and details that make up design and architecture, and rather than saving these traces, she recreates them through watercolor drawings.

‘when you open the guest room door, the first thing that comes to your eyes is the beautifully tiled bathtub and the city view of akasaka over there! the migratory plan centered on the closet was excellent because it was easy to use because the front and back could be switched properly,’ she writes on her instagram about her guest room sketch of the okura tokyo hotel.

images courtesy of kei endo

accurate and detailed

the eloquence of endo’s drawings veers from ambiguity as names and labels dot her works to inform her audience of the purposes the rooms, objects, and fixtures anchor. her process begins with the veins of the overarching imagery, the skeleton of the room or architecture, drawn using gel pens.

after adding arrowheads to identify the names of the element in the space, she grabs her paintbrush, dips it into a cup of water on her desk, smudges the now wet brush over her chosen watercolor bar, and enshrines her canvas with earthy and serene-looking hues to complete her drawing.

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soaking in the AMBIANCE

stepping into one’s hotel room after a long day induces exhaustion that tramps on the body, a force that beckons to close the eyes and lay down on the pillowy bed. if not, the excitement may soak in the surroundings and the sense of liberty that infiltrates the room, not entirely the details that design the room.

with endo’s drawings, the architectural designer lulls the guests to slow down and take in the finer features that carry the hotel room’s existence and beauty, from the unplugged and dust-filled hairdryer in the bathroom to the creases on the pillows on the bed from puffing them before guests enter.

sequence miyashita park