Design House Tokyo

December 10, 2010 8:14 AM

Where are the best places to go for interesting and innovative Japanese design?

I'm interested in design, and browsing and buying innovative/interesting bits and pieces. I'm interested in, but don't know much about, Japanese design - furniture, electricals, jewelry, homewares. I know about Muji. I am in London. I am probably going to Tokyo at some point next year. I'm looking for some or all of these three things:

- Good Japanese design shops in London
- Good Japanese design shops in Tokyo
- Online retail sites for good Japanese design that a non-Japanese speaker can use, and which ship to the UK.

Any ideas, tips or suggestions would be gratefully received. Thanks hivemind!

posted by MuffinMan to shopping (4 answers total)

Check out Loft and Tokyu Hands, both of which can be found all over Japan.

If you find something you want to order, use Flutterscape.
posted by twblalock at 8:48 AM on December 10, 2010

Some off the top of my head are...

Boo-Hoo-Woo is a good place to start, though the site seems to be only in Japanese. But you can take a look at their list of designers and see what you like from there.

+-0. The round humidifier from the 3rd collection is really popular. They seem to have a distributor in the UK.

duende. The tissue box cover and wall rack are famous.

For furniture, some examples are Standard Trade, Truck (based in Osaka), and my personal fave (because it's a lot more affordable than the other two examples!) Karimoku 60. D & Department is one of the stores that carry them (online shop). The places that you should check out for original furniture in Tokyo is the Nakameguro area and along Meguro-dori Ave., so when you come, you might want to browse these areas.

Various museum shops are fun, too. E.g. The National Art Center, Tokyo Museum Shop. Roppongi Hills Art & Design Store and the related Omotesando Hills S & O shop (in Japanese only it seems). You could spend a week just browsing the various art museums here.
posted by misozaki at 4:29 PM on December 10, 2010

Design Festa Gallery in Harajuku is essentially a rental gallery for students and other young artists, and they do sell works, though it's less industrial design and more just plain art.
posted by armage at 11:40 PM on December 12, 2010

Thank you all for your answers. Really helpful! If there are any more from anyone else, I'm building a list of places to go and there is always room for more.
posted by MuffinMan at 2:21 PM on December 17, 2010