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Bean to Bar Lounge

Riki Watanabe

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Client
Dandelion Chocolate Japan
Floor area
49.20 ㎡
Completion
2019

The most important element of this project was to bring out the best and unexpected charms of the materials used. I took inspiration from Dandelion’s approach to materials, especially their relationship to “cacao”, believing that was the best way to express the brand. The main material used was “western redcedar”, which is also used in their first store in Japan. It was vital to maintain a level of consistency for the brand’s image in Japan, and even though there are distinctive differences in the spatial design as well as the location, it should still inherit their unique characteristics. As a way of showing the material, we stacked up a mosaic pattern by piling together pieces one by one like a parquet, making use of the essence of the “western redcedar” uneven colors. Despite using the same materials, by cutting them out, I was successfully able to vary the expressions depending on the viewing angles. We believe it aligns with Dandelion’s attractive idea of “Bean to Bar”, where depending on the cocoa beans’ origins or the way they are roasted, there is a care and uniqueness placed on each bar of chocolate created, expressing their sense for craftsmanship.