Q&A with The Conran Shop
1. Please describe the shop and the concept behind the spatial design.
The Conran Shop, a home furnishing shop founded in England, opened The Conran Shop Tokyo at the Azabudai Hills complex in November 2023. The Conran Shop’s seventh and largest location in Japan covers around 1300 square metres and is the first to include a restaurant. The company will celebrate 30 years in Japan in 2024 and having renewed the global brand logo last year, it has also been developing a unique character for each shop, among other initiatives. The spatial design and details of The Conran Shop Tokyo, which has a theme of “the finest daily life”, were based on keywords such as fluid space, robust, bold, energetic, light, clean and balanced.
2. In which part of the space did you use tiles, and why? Out of the various materials available, why did you decide to use tiles?
Tiles have been used in one of the shop’s two central reception spaces, which function as both checkouts and places to communicate with customers. They completely cover the walls of the space.
Tiles were really well suited to showing the distinctive curved walls of the reception space in a beautiful way.
Also, The Conran Shop Tokyo interior is composed of materials, such as plaster and wood, that encapsulate time. While tiles can be considered a standard architectural material, those with colours and forms that have been carefully made by artisans were ideal in this case, given that the shop introduces selected items that are “standard but high quality, everyday but special”.
3. When designing the tiles, what were you most particular about?
Colour, texture and even the colour of the joints.
4. What are your thoughts regarding tiles as materials? Through the production process, did you discover anything new about tiles?
Drawing out the characteristics of the tiles enhanced the appeal of the space.
5. What was it like to produce your own original tiles in Tajimi? Please share your thoughts on the benefits of this process and any other observations you made.
Tiles are a type of pottery product and through the process of kneading clay, forming a shape and firing, each tile develops its own individual variations. That’s one of their appeals. Visiting the places where tiles are manufactured revealed the artisans’ trial-and-error process and the unique value it creates, which is something that can’t be understood from the samples in catalogues and showrooms.
The Conran Shop
In 1973, Terence Conran opened The Conran Shop, a home furnishing shop in London with a selection of furniture, lighting, interior items and gifts sourced from around the world, along with numerous original items. The Conran Shop arrived in Japan in 1994 with the opening of its first shop at Shinjuku Park Tower, Tokyo. In April 2022, Shinichiro Nakahara, founder of Landscape Products, was appointed president of Conran Shop Japan Ltd.
In April 2023, The Conran Shop opened The Conran Shop Daikanyama, its first-ever locally edited shop with a focus on Asia. On November 24, 2023, The Conran Shop Tokyo opened as the brand’s seventh and largest shop in Japan.
The year 2024 marks 30 years of The Conran Shop in Japan. An exhibition, tentatively titled “Terence Conran — Designing Modern Britain”, will be held at Tokyo Station Gallery from October onwards.
edit. Nao Takegata / daily press
translate. Ben Davis
The Conran Shop Tokyo
2023
Tokyo, Japan
The Conran Shop
Extrusion
Quantity 57m2
photo: Yuna Yagi