Porcelain is not confined to cups, plates and bowls at 1616 / arita japan’s new flagship store in the famed ceramics hub of Arita, Kyushu, designed by creative director Teruhiro Yanagihara’s studio. The material is all around, quite literally, with walls and ceilings also plastered in a mix of porcelain stone and local soil. 

The new flagship, spanning approximately 300 square metres, is a physical reflection of the brand. Key to its concept is a home-inspired layout, plus a cafe serving Weekenders Coffee from Kyoto, for visitors to experience the beauty of touching and using the products first-hand. Instead of using display shelves to sell Arita porcelain, Yanagihara designed elements for daily life, such as a kitchen, a living room with a fireplace, and a bathroom, so visitors can imagine living with the pieces.

The one-storey space — located within a hub of other Arita showrooms — is a clean-lined collage of warm blocks of earthy, primal materials loosely broken up by minimal wall partitions. At the front is a platform of sliced bricks, encased neatly in black-coated iron plates, upon which the contemporary matte white forms of a selection of 1616 / arita pieces are displayed.

All around are walls in rich terracotta shades, crafted by local plasterers who blended the porcelain stone used by local ceramicists with Kyushu soil. The walls’ organic texture is sharpened into focus by the copper plates attached to the side edges. The ceilings were made with the same plastering soil but using finer stones, creating a subtly gradated sense of texture.