Japanese architect Keiji Ashizawa talks hospitality design

Projects such as Trunk Hotel Yoyogi Park and various Blue Bottle cafés showcase Japanese architect Keiji Ashizawa’s philosophy of honest design

As I step into the Owner’s Suite of Trunk Hotel Yoyogi Park, I am first enraptured by the panoramic view outside the large glass windows. Am I really in Tokyo? The buildings are like distant totems while right in front of me, a green cloud of treetops merges with the white sky.

But once I have absorbed this view, it is the smaller things in the room that hold my attention. The timber floors feel warm to the feet; the speckled, textured walls are unabashedly raw, grooves cut into the door make for subtle handles; and the impossibly soft upholstery in earth tones makes me feel immediately at ease.

To feel calm in the cacophony that is Tokyo takes much work. But architect Keiji Ashizawa makes it look easy. He collaborated with Copenhagen’s Norm Architects for the design of this hotel—the third project from the chic Japanese brand started by Yoshitaka Nojiri.

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Above A Blue Bottle café in Shanghai

A Blue Bottle café in Shanghai

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The hotel, located in the quaint Tomigaya district, is a brutalist structure in-filled with abundant landscaping that mirrors lush Yoyogi Park across the road. Ashizawa, speaking at his office in a quiet street in Asakusabashi, tells me that the client wanted the hotel to capitalise on this, “so people in Tokyo can feel relaxed after a long trip or walking around the city”.

The relaxed feel of the hotel reflects his approach of honest design. Eschewing fancy themes or loud gestures, Keiji Ashizawa’s designs are cocoons of contemplation, concocted with a blend of simple forms, natural materials, soft colours and assiduous details to hide extraneous parts. Lighting is also a very important consideration; Ashizawa is particular about the right colour, temperature and spread of artificial light to create “noiseless spaces”.

For example, at the table where we are, he points to the dearth of spotlights “so the space is very calm; you don’t feel the glare”. I experience this again when I sit at the Dotcom Coffee café on the ground level of his office. Large sliding windows infuse it with daylight that is matched with the soft illumination of paper lamps, floating like light sculptures.

Above A living room setting in Azabu Hills Residence

A living room setting in Azabu Hills Residence

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“We don’t have to do much design but the layout is very important. I always try to have a variety of seats; when you enter the café and can immediately find your place, that’s very good,” Ashizawa says of café design that works. I find my spot as a solo customer on a long bench along the wall fronted by a line of small tables, where I feel I can observe people without taking up too much space.

Ashizawa has created many cafés for Dotcom Coffee. He has also designed many stores for Blue Bottle Coffee; not just in Japan, but also in China and Jakarta. “Our work for Blue Bottle Coffee is a game changer. They are very good at branding. Every café, which has a different design, tries to be a community café,” says Ashizawa.

Unlike run-of-the-mill coffee shops with cheap furniture, the tables and seats in these cafés are comfortable and obviously well-crafted. Most are from a long-time collaborator, Japanese manufacturer Karimoku.

Initially, Ashizawa was only working on architectural and small design projects for the company. Then, he met the founders of Norm Architects, Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen and Kasper Ronn, through furniture workshops with another Japanese furniture manufacturer, Ariake, and invited them to Tokyo to take part in an exhibition he curated called Architect Meets Karimoku. It showcased furniture designed by the three firms—the third company was Torafu Architects.

Above A minimalist guest bedroom at Trunk Hotel Yoyogi Park

A minimalist guest bedroom at Trunk Hotel Yoyogi Park

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Subsequently, Ashizawa invited the two to Tokyo to work on a house project together, designing about 13 pieces of furniture to fit the spaces. Then, he decided to approach Karimoku with the idea for a new brand, Karimoku Case. The collections, comprising furniture initially designed for actual spaces, now has an impressive inventory borne from projects ranging from houses to the penthouse suites of the recently opened Bellustar Tokyo by Pan Pacific Hotel.

“I was not a very serious furniture designer,” says Ashizawa of his early days. Before Karimoku Case, his furniture design dabbles had included collaborations with Ikea and Ariake, as well as Ishinomaki Laboratory—a brand he started from a public workshop for the local community devastated by the tsunami triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake.

But now, the office has a dedicated product design team. His hotel projects have also propelled him into the limelight and he is now getting larger commissions that are taking the firm to places such as Singapore and Abu Dhabi.

For everything he does, big or small, Ashizawa explains that his approach to design is the same. “When I design anything, some details are the same. I design for comfort. I want to make good spaces.”