BeantoBar Lounge by Riki Watanabe

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DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?

RW : Riki Watanabe took inspiration from DandeLion chocolate approach to materials, especially their relationship to cacao, believing that was the best way to express the brand.

DI: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?

RW : The most important element of this project was to bring out the best and unexpected charms of the materials used. he wanted to create a store that was unlike anything we had ever seen before, while maintaining our brand image.

DI: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?

RW : It took two weeks for the concept and two months in total for the shop to be completed.

DI: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?

RW : Riki Watanabe thought 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.

DI: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?

RW : It all depends.

DI: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?

RW : It's how you show the materials, especially the use of wood.

DI: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?

RW : The name was conceived by the client.

DI: What is the most unique aspect of your design?

RW : It's the use of wood. 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 red cedar” uneven colors. Despite using the same materials, by cutting them out, I was successfully able to vary the expressions depending on the viewing angles.

DI: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?

RW : I thought about it alone.

DI: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?

RW : Riki Watanabe researched brands approach to materials, especially their relationship to cacao.he believed that was the best way to express the brand.

DI: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?

RW : Nothing in particular. The client also agreed with my concept and cooperated with me.

DI: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?

RW : I wanted to find out if my design would be accepted in the world, so I submit international design competition.

DI: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?

RW : By confronting materials with a broader perspective and from multiple perspectives, I learned that there are still new possibilities for materials that already exist in general materials.