Wednesday, 08 August 2007 |
As you’ll no doubt have seen on the pages of the cool hunter over the past few weeks, we’ve been paying homage to wall-art
from all over the world. From bars in Baghdad to clubs in Cairo, we’ve
been trawling buildings looking for the finest illustrations the
art-world has to offer. And for this next one, we had to scurry around
the trendy backstreets of Jingumae in Tokyo to find it.
This
small live in studio and salon has been decked in black paint with a
beautifully elegant mural, depicted from the salon’s own brand to
engulf its two exposed walls. The hand-painted pattern is reminiscent
of an inverted Rorschach inkblot drawing. Yet the symmetrical display
blends perfectly with the centre piece - a woman overwhelmed by the
surrounding plumage. And while the windows are large and severe, they
don’t distort the image. Instead, they perforate the design with
different levels of intensity, revealing larger and smaller details of
what lies beneath.
Inside, the space has been deliberately
simplified, so as to not compete with the eye-catching exterior.
Blackened wood surfaces sit quietly against the enlarged windows,
decorated with cream-coloured blinds. While the theme of masculine and
feminine remains true throughout. The angular planes of the structure
repeat in the harsh lines of the furniture and the effeminate fresco is
imitated by the soft lighting inside. A smart yet simple piece that
respects the duality of the building – somewhere to live and work –
while playfully intertwining the two. By Matt Hussey
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architecture 
Art House 
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