BEAMS JAPAN has landed in Los Angeles

Often a time for festivity and celebration, summer brings a heightened sense of discovery and excitement that no other season offers. In a white walled corner of the Arts District of downtown LA, BEAMS’ third POP-UP series is a uniquely curated experience that offers discovery of parts still largely unknown in Japan – BEAMS JAPAN. It opened its doors with a festival-like “orange carpet” event featuring the company’s signature color, a perfect backdrop to a midsummer night's dream.

Text by Aya Muto | Photography by Alexa Vitug

By now the world’s keen sartorial minds and culture fiends are perhaps familiar with the company BEAMS, which leads the contemporary Japanese fashion and lifestyle retail experiences through many of its inner labels and multi layered brands. As one of such umbrellaed brands, BEAMS JAPAN has been curating items made in the isle, from traditional to contemporary for nearly a decade. Ranging from common to high-art, boasting the pillar of well made craftsmanship and artists’ visions, here you can find a sturdy porcelain sake set that is found in any izakaya to signed edition prints by artists like Tadanori Yokoo and Daido Moriyama, all under one roof. A traditional wooden footwear geta with Birkenstock soles (uniquely a BEAMS twist)? Yes, they are here! It’s a showcase of nuanced and hyper real Japan, selected through the fine and whimsical eyes of BEAMS JAPAN that you can discover, experience and even take home.

Stories First

“We thrive to seek items that have interesting back stories,” emphasizes Shuji Suzuki, a founding member of BEAMS JAPAN and the brand’s creative director whom makes it his lifework to continue discovering what Japan has to offer. “Some of the makers are a small family run factory and at times it takes years to be able to carry their products. But once the relationship is established, we have been able to support each other’s visions through collaborative feedback.” Such BEAMS JAPAN novelties include sashiko-weave “one-arm-shoulder-throw” bags (an ode to a Judo move, as this textile is used in martial arts wear), pouches using tatami-mat edging and ramen bowls with original typography that is on its own a visual triumph. Carve out some time and read the offered back stories on each item, and you will find yourself immersed in the remote corners of Japan. Moreover, many items are crafted exclusively for this LA POP-UP as well.

Orange and Indigo

BEAMS JAPAN’ signature color orange holds layers of meanings, explains Suzuki. “Dai-dai (the traditional name for the color orange, also a kind of citrus used in new year’s decoration as a symbol of longevity and prosperity) is an auspicious color, and by applying that on our products, we hope to pass it onto the customers that bring those items into their lives.” Another frequently used color is navy, and this represents the artisanal achievement in reference to indigo. “Skilled artisans can achieve a deeper hue of blue, so our use of indigo blue is in a way a nod to craftsmanship that we seek in each item.” Daruma (usually in red), Shigaraki-ceramic raccoons (Japanese name Tanuki, commonly in brown) and Snapper lanterns (Tai-Guruma, originally in red) – these otherwise traditional objects seem pleasantly contemporary in BEAMS JAPAN’ signature orange and indigo blue. And we should note that the paper lantern from Osaka has a blue exclusive to this POP-UP – ‘a vibrant sky blue inspired by the open skies of Los Angeles’ – perhaps they are even hinting at Dodgers blue here?

Crafts to Design

Sori Yanagi is a celebrated industrial designer known for his Butterfly Stool, and a series of elegantly designed kitchenware. He was also a key person when BEAMS as a brand was maturing into offering lifestyle products beyond wearable design. As a director of Japan Folk Crafts Museum (Mingei-kan, founded by his father Muneyoshi Yanagi, one of the main Mingei Movement figures) in Tokyo back in the ‘90s, Yanagi pointed out the importance to go see where these crafts are actually made, if the objects indeed interest you. As this advice rings ever so true in BEAMS JAPAN’s ethos, it is only fitting that the North American premiere of Yanagi designed BLACK COLLECTION series furniture is also at this POP-UP. “Black is a color that embodies timeless strength, and also sets a modern tone that can be seen in the likes of Charlotte Perriand’s works. This chair was discontinued shortly after its release in Japan, and for this occasion, Yanagi Design Office designed a table to complement it. “We are very excited to showcase this BLACK COLLECTION to audiences in LA!” glees Yuri Kikuchi, the director of fennica , which is a craft focused lifestyle brand for BEAMS, and one of the creative minds that came together in curating this POP-UP.

Art Generating Culture

Another backbone to this POP-UP experience is brought forth from TOKYO CULTUART by BEAMS “a community hub of sorts by artists based in Tokyo, a city that continues to reinvent itself in the blink of an eye” quips its director Yoshiyuki Ogawa. One of Tadanori Yokoo’s vibrant characters is interpreted into a rug hung on a wall, an enigmatic maestro of graphic art whose work has decorated many aspects of Japanese subculture since the ‘60s. “We want to bring the exciting minds of the artists through their artworks and unique products, in a way representing our city of Tokyo where established and young interact.” As proof you will find a card game which involves matching the shapes of French fries (unexpectedly difficult) and a okosama-lunch (kid’s meal) plate embodying the artist’s work who cohabitate in both graphic and tattoo worlds all in one glance. All combined, BEAMS JAPAN aims to bring a sense of place that is there for people to discover, one object at a time.

BEAMS JAPAN has landed in Los Angeles BEAMS JAPAN has landed in Los Angeles