• North Face Japanese Capsule Collection

    North Face Japanese Capsule Collection

    Occasionally good news can be like the proverbial bus; it all comes at once. So it was with North Face’s Carnaby Store opening last week where they also introduced a new Japanese capsule collection, in a veritable “win win” scenario. The first ever North Face lifestyle store, the product itself is a curated symphony of the North…

  • NOBU Hotel Shoreditch

    NOBU Hotel Shoreditch

    Opening in June 2017, located in the heart of London’s artistic quarter, Nobu Hotel Shoreditch is the first European hotel from the internationally renowned Nobu Hotels brand. The hotel’s 143 guest rooms and 7 suites offer a tranquil escape from the hustle and bustle of one of the city’s most culturally significant districts, as well…

  • Y & Sons Bespoke Tailoring

    Y & Sons Bespoke Tailoring

    I’ll come clean from the start; I’m not planning on wearing a kimono any time soon, but I would kind of like to. This is not by accident, this is by design. The Y & Sons lookbook combines brands such as Norwegian Rain and Want Les Essentials de la Vie to create an ensemble that…

  • FLAGSHIP | retaW Store Harajuku

    FLAGSHIP | retaW Store Harajuku

    When I first encountered Japanese brand retaW, they were a fledgling brand, with 6 products – all shower gels – but the unique quality of these six products alone were enough to make inroads in an already saturated marketplace. Their select distribution strategy saw them introduced to the world via niche retailers such as Dover…

  • HEM House by Sanuki Daisuke Architects

    HEM House by Sanuki Daisuke Architects

    For those that have visited Vietnam, you may have seen the ‘capillary like’ winding narrow alleys that separate the blocks of buildings; in Vietnamese towns, some of these alleys can even converge to a width of less than 1m. This contained space is conducive to the vivacious culture that pervades Vietnam; the narrow alleys in…

  • House in Yatsugatake

    House in Yatsugatake

    Set on a sloping mountain ridge at the foot of the Yatsugatake Mountains – a volcanic mountain range bordering the Nagano and Yamanashi Prefecture – is a disparate property, as unusual as it is seemingly misplaced. But this property is anything but misplaced, much rather a painstaking search for the perfect view spanning many years.…

  • The Raindrop Cake by Darren Wong

    The Raindrop Cake by Darren Wong

    With a name like “Raindrop Cake” you would think this were a food based on the ‘delightfully’ unpredictable weather of England but it is actually inspired by traditional Mizu Shingen Mochi from Japan. The journey started when American based Darren Wong came across articles of this dish in Japan, but had no way to source…