Jeffrey Hutchison, an independent architect from the office of Peter Marino, created the design for the interior of Barneys New York Ginza flagship store. He is an American architect working with Barneys since the company's launch in Japan. In 2002, he spent two years preparing for the opening of the Ginza flagship store. Although the interior was furnished with furniture, sculptures, and decorative elements by artists, we created a substantial portion of the interior, and I designed some fixtures and fittings. The space occupies approximately 1,000 square meters, giving this boutique a scale rarely seen elsewhere in the world.
On the ceiling, embedded brackets made by ARAKAWA GRIP were installed throughout the space, and wire and grips were used to create a variety of fixtures, including hangers, mannequins, partitions, and installations, as well as use in other purposes besides displays.
During numerous meetings with the New York headquarters concerning the launch of the Ginza store, the Japanese word "Arakawa" was frequently used in English conversations with the New York team. The US team was already using ARAKAWA GRIP and was familiar with them. Barneys has a way of telling stories through even the most minor visual elements to make people enjoy the store. What would typically be just a mannequin in a wedding dress would be a mannequin in a dress flying through the air for Barneys. ARAKAWA GRIP is indispensable in achieving such innovative ideas. At Barneys, wires were used as details instead of being hidden, and even thick wires were used boldly. The presentation with hanging by wires gives a sense of industrial aesthetics. text by Masaaki Takahashi
