We designed a bar, ‘Folklore’, based on the concept of Sake and Japanese culture making unique Japan cocktails. As the name suggests this bar is themed on folklore; passing on ancient customs, beliefs, legends and techniques to future generations. Then, the bar explores very special Japanese cocktails with different cities and villages of Japan mixing with Western liquor and Sake, tea, Shochu, and Japanese domestic spirits.
As tradition is the common keyword between Sake and Japanese culture, we faced to select the materials and to design.
From temples and shrines, and old houses all over the place in Japan, such as Nara, Kyoto, Nagano, and Yamagata, we were seeking, gathering, and selecting the right materials for our design. And to reconstruct a space with the these materials, we make it special with the feeling of the materials’ experiences and histories.
Materials that were part of an at least 300-year-old temple are scattered everywhere, and bamboo smoked with charcoal and boards used as tools in daily life are interwoven. In this way, one-of-a-kind space was assembled.
Unlike alcoholic beverages and architectural spaces around the world, there are cocktails and spaces here that can only be made in Japan.
Using old material as a way to express the creation of new cocktails may seem contradictory, but it is not. We have gradually developed technology, culture, and economy by repeatedly changing the old and creating the new. Then, with this attitude of continuing to make changes in the folklore, new things will still be created.
The use of old materials minimized new logging and interior manufacturing, and also reduced carbon dioxide emissions. In addition, if this project conveys the charm of old materials and those are actively adopted in other buildings, it will produce even more effects.