YAGICHO-HONTEN

The client is a dried food merchant with around 280 years of history, trading in the staples of dashi: dried bonito, kelp and shiitake. The project is a renovation of its main store.

The building looks as if it had been painted red inside and out in a single stroke, but the red was already there. The design team noticed that it matched the cut face of dried bonito and took it up as the colour of the brand.

Display boxes were made from MDF in the same red and stacked through the store, turning the sales floor into something closer to a market. Against bare concrete columns and ceilings, the boxes and shelving read as one continuous piece of furniture.

At the centre stands a counter topped in copper. It serves as the till and as a kitchen where staff show how to make a first dashi. Set as an island, it puts staff and customers on an equal footing and invites conversation.

On fine days every door is opened. The store spills toward the pavement, people drift in and out, and its activity becomes part of the street.