The Character of a Place, Naturally Revealed

From Tenjin, follow Kokutai-doro Avenue toward the ruins of Fukuoka Castle. This busy thoroughfare is lined with zelkova trees whose leaves grow dense from spring into summer, offering passersby shade from the strong sunlight. It was amid the streets of Daimyo, Fukuoka, that MOMOTARO JEANS FUKUOKA quietly opened its doors.

A gray building beneath shifting patterns of sunlight filtered through the trees. Except for the entrance, the entire facade is covered by a matte wall with a curious, evenly rippled texture. As you step off the pavement toward the glass sliding door, discreetly marked with the logo, the texture beneath your feet changes. Looking down, you find paving stones reminiscent of a Japanese garden.

“That is Yame stone, brought here from Yame City in Fukuoka Prefecture.”

Shinagawa explains this with a slight smile. This is the second MOMOTARO JEANS store designed by Shinagawa, who leads the architectural design studio AS together with Jun Aoki. Their first was MOMOTARO JEANS KYOTO, a renovation of an 80-year-old Kyoto machiya townhouse. Colors and textures transformed little by little over the many years people had lived there; the wood of timeworn pillars and beams, earthen walls and stone floors evoking the beauty of good old Japan. For anyone familiar with the Kyoto store and its palpable sense of warmth and tradition, the contemporary space of MOMOTARO JEANS FUKUOKA may come as something of a surprise. This is how it came about.

“The Kyoto store was the natural result of renovating an old machiya townhouse. When working with the old timber and earthen walls already there, it made sense to think about how best to preserve and make use of materials unique to that particular place. The Fukuoka store, on the other hand, had a rich context worth drawing on, but the existing steel-frame building contained none of the warm, natural materials found elsewhere. If we had brought in wood and earth in an attempt to recreate the Kyoto atmosphere, it would have felt artificial, like a contrived setting completely disconnected from this place.”

A large counter with a cast-aluminum top, like the one in Kyoto, stands on a polished stone floor. The walls are finished with washi paper. Although all of these elements have a cool, achromatic palette, the space somehow does not feel particularly cold. Perhaps that is because of the gentle texture of the washi, or perhaps it is due to the character the aluminum will develop as it ages. At the Kyoto store, staff have placed TOKUNO BLUE denim on the aluminum counter and worked on it day after day, transferring the denim’s blue onto its surface and giving it an appearance entirely different from when the store first opened. For the interior of MOMOTARO JEANS FUKUOKA as well, Shinagawa and his team seem to have selected each material carefully while imagining the character it would acquire several years into the future. But what exactly did he mean by “a rich context worth drawing on”?

“Apparently, this site was once home to a well-known jeans shop that had been operating since the 1960s and was famous throughout Kyushu. When we learned that, Suzuki-san from Japan Blue was moved too (laughs). It felt as though this place already had a connection to denim. Also, when we were first approached about the Kyoto store, we were shown the textile and sewing factories in Kojima, and for the Fukuoka store, we thought it might be fitting to introduce something of that factory atmosphere. We felt it would complement MOMOTARO JEANS products and the brand’s dedication to craftsmanship.”

True to his word, the exterior is clad in corrugated cement slate, a material commonly used for factories and warehouses. Ordinarily, special trim pieces are required to cover the joints between panels and keep water out, but because the new cladding was installed over the existing exterior, they were able to achieve a minimal facade without them. At first glance, MOMOTARO JEANS FUKUOKA may appear cool and austere, yet the space also possesses a distinctly human quality. The reason for that was beginning to emerge.

The Value of Experience over Appearances

A meeting of history and modernity, and a coexistence of industry and humanity. Although their approaches point in opposite directions, the Kyoto and Fukuoka stores share an unmistakable aesthetic sensibility. Visually, their most prominent common feature is probably the small tsubo-niwa courtyard installed inside each store. Even the cycad, a tree emblematic of traditional architecture in Kojima, Okayama Prefecture, where MOMOTARO JEANS originated, has been faithfully carried over from Kyoto to Fukuoka. The only difference is that while the Kyoto store places its courtyard at the very back, the Fukuoka store positions it immediately inside the entrance.

“Kokutai-doro Avenue carries a great deal of traffic, so with a glass facade, the sounds and sights of the cars would inevitably affect the interior of the store. To allow customers to browse the products at their leisure, I thought it would be better to create a layer of separation from those outside elements. That is why the courtyard acts as a buffer. We conceived the facade, including the garden, as something with depth.”

An exterior wall that blocks out the noise from outside, and a courtyard 1.8 meters deep. But that is not its only purpose.

“I wanted to bring greenery, light, and fresh air into the store.”

In most cases, a building’s facade is something that makes a statement toward the outside or acts upon its surroundings. The facade of MOMOTARO JEANS FUKUOKA, however, also has a considerable effect on the comfort of the people inside. “I thought that was rather like clothing. Clothes naturally express individuality to the outside world, but their lining also plays a major role in the comfort of the person wearing them.That is why we created this courtyard, even though it meant sacrificing some retail floor space. I hoped that the courtyard facing the interior would make customers and staff feel more comfortable, much like the lining of a well-made garment.”

Passing beside the aluminum counter and continuing toward the rear, you come to an inconspicuous staircase leading to the second floor. While the first floor presents the full range of standard denim, this floor carries a more varied selection of clothing. The floor is finished in gray-beige marble. The wall beside the staircase is once again covered entirely in silver-tinted washi. Light entering through the window beyond spreads softly across the space, creating a scene that feels both nostalgic and refined.

“Originally, we gave the contractor a sample of a different color of marble, the same type we used in the Kyoto store. But marble is, of course, a natural material, and the colors available vary from region to region. What they showed us instead was this gray-toned flooring. We could have asked them to source the same material used in Kyoto, but when working with contractors, I want to listen to their suggestions as much as possible, so this time we used the marble they presented to us. In the end, I think it worked out well. It is important to establish a clear design vision in advance and work toward it, but one of the fascinating things about being on site is that the design can also evolve in an unexpected ways through the conditions you encounter and your conversations with the people carrying out the work. Of course, that involves risk, which makes finding the right balance in those decisions difficult.”

The second floor contains a large fitting room that Shinagawa describes as “the most conceptual part of the store.” It is spacious enough to accommodate two to three people with room to spare, and its interior is lined with large mirrors.

“This building actually has a very distinctive floor plan, shaped rather like a large triangle. My initial image was of this triangular building, like the sail of a ship, seeming to advance toward people approaching from the Tenjin side. But when it came to planning the interior, that shape presented quite a challenge. Put simply, if you create rectangular rooms within it, you inevitably end up with a triangular space left over somewhere.”

The main space on the second floor is a parallelogram. Shinagawa and his team ultimately decided to make use of the remaining triangular space as a fitting room.

“Both Suzuki and Kaie Murakami, who was responsible for the direction, strongly emphasized the importance of the fitting room. They felt that giving customers the full experience of touching the products and trying them on in natural light was more important than making the space look visually impressive. That led to this fitting room, which makes use of the 60-degree angles like a three-way mirror and allows customers to see the products properly both in natural light and under artificial lighting.”

The fitting room was conceived as the climax of the in-store experience. Shinagawa and the MOMOTARO JEANS team discussed the space in those terms, repeatedly adjusting the lighting’s color rendering and color temperature. The first-floor courtyard rises through an open void to the second floor, where the breeze stirs curtains that echo the shape of the exterior wall.

“We designed this store with the hope of combining a certain refinement with a positive sense of roughness, not by filling it entirely with expensive materials, but by using industrial materials and finishing them with care. The first project I ever worked on was also in Fukuoka, so this is a place I feel connected to and one that holds many memories for me. I love it here. I still can’t imagine how the people who come here will respond, but I hope they enjoy it.”

MOMOTARO JEANS’ first flagship store in Kyushu has reached an initial state of completion. But this is only the beginning, and as people and products pass through it, the place will surely develop a character of its own. Just as a brand-new pair of blue jeans does.