2017
GINZA SIX
Now considering Curiosity as specialists in
retail design, LVMH put the studio forward
for a department-store competition in 2017.
But the team’s biggest retail project to date
was to be no ‘nice and neutral’ interior. ‘This
is Ginza, the core of Japan,’ says Nicolas. ‘I
wanted to modernize Japanese sensibilities
through something that seems classic yet
futuristic – timeless.’
Curiosity had to work within Yoshio
Taniguchi’s existing architecture. ‘I under-
stood the problem,’ says Nicolas. ‘It was a
beautiful big building with a hole in the
centre. That makes for a fantastic museum,
but a retail environment demanded some-
thing else.’ Nicolas’s concept humanizes the
macrocosm, re-creating the ambience of a
Japanese street with its undulating store-Luxury shopping complex Ginza Six is the
consequence of a longtime relationship
between LVMH and Curiosity. Here, the
studio’s signature centrepiece takes the
shape of a ceiling light in the atrium.fronts. Each shop at Ginza Six is a different
shape, affording the interior a rhythm and
dynamism not typically associated with
department stores.
This time, the studio’s signature cen-
trepiece took the shape of a ceiling of light
that lends warmth to the atrium. Drawing
shoppers in like moths to a flame, it forms
a core – a destination – from which to
wander. ‘First you feel the welcoming light;
then you discover fashions on the side.’
Ginza Six is infused with ‘ryokan-
inspired hospitality’: a taste of where Curios-
ity may head next. ‘A store design might last
five years or so,’ says Nicolas. ‘I want to create
places with longevity – a hotel, perhaps, with
the same dynamic I employ for retail.’ ●
curiosity.jp‘When you
open a website,
you control
someone’s time
and attention.
Why can’t we
do that in a
physical retail
environment?’
Sa
to
sh
i^ S
hig
et
a
MILESTONES 69