Beishu Gallery

Beishu Gallery is located in Taito area of Tokyo, where traditional craftsmanship still remains vibrant.
Beishu is an esteemed high-brand of traditional hina dolls (girls’ court dolls from the classical era).

The goal of the project was to design a multi-functional space to serve as entrance, gallery and showroom.
Two different zones reside in the space. One in the front is the entrance and gallery which boasts a 3.8m-high ceiling. Furniture is easily movable in order to assure flexibility. Pendant lights illuminate the dolls from close and generate impressive shadows.
Beyond the gallery, steel shelves float in overlaying rows in the iconic showroom zone. Each set of dolls hover in its own small world, like in emaki-mono (picture scrolls) where each scene is depicted between the golden clouds. Every plane of the shelf drifts like a trailing cloud and acts as a stage to embrace individual story of the dolls.