2016
SEIBU IKEBUKURO
PRESTIGE BOUTIQUEWith various brands on display under one
roof, a department store can be compared
to an exhibition environment. An exhibition
like the one that accompanied the Good
Design Award event – a space that involved
no objects – bears little relation to a multi-
brand retail concept, however. Here the
challenge lies in having each label tell its
story while maintaining a cohesive, fluidly
traversable space.
In 2016 the ground floor of Seibu
Ikebukuro was rebranded. Prestige Bou-
tique became the place to go for bags from
the likes of Louis Vuitton and Loewe. These
up-market brands were to have their own
retail spaces, conceived by different design-
ers, and a central pop-up store would give
each a chance to promote itself, away from
the competition. Moment was asked to do
the entire floor, although Hirawata recalls
having ‘not much left for us to design. All
that remained were the ceiling and the floorspaces between brands. Simply choosing a
material or colour for these elements felt
superficial, like merely adding a bit of deco-
ration. Instead, we concentrated on making
the pop-up store stand out from the rest,
finally arriving at the idea of manipulating
light to accentuate products.’
The studio used 1-mm-thin LED
light fixtures that resemble scarves. They
hang from the ceiling like billowing sails.
‘Our lighting solution provides only half
the illumination employed in traditional
retail spaces,’ says Hirawata. ‘That’s all there
is – the aisles are unlit. Our clients raised
their eyebrows, concerned about the path-
ways being dark, but we felt the result was
theatrical. After more than a year, the space
remains the way we intended.’ Sales have
almost doubled since the boutique opened.
‘Thanks to the success of the ground floor,’
he says, ‘we’re now working on the design
of the department store’s sixth level.’Moment convinced Seibu Ikebukuro to approve
drastically low lighting levels for Prestige Boutique;
the success of this lighting concept led to other
projects for the department store.76 PORTRAITS