Studio Nicholson Opens at Shinsaibashi PARCO, Osaka

Architecture and clothing share the same purpose - we should feel comfortable and protected in both. It was important to me that our first store in China had a residential feel, so that customers would instantly feel at home. The space balances this with a gallery-like room that allows the clothes to be fully appreciated.

Warm cherry wood is used for shelving and display fixtures to present the ready-to-wear and leather bag collections, continuing the material language also used at the Shibuya PARCO store. Its grain and tone lend the space a residential, familiar feeling, offsetting the cooler presence of stone and stainless steel elsewhere in the store. The wood is allowed to express its own natural character and contribute to the overall sense of warmth and intimacy.

As customers enter through the space towards the residential area, the floor is produced in Japanese-made Tajimi tiles, continuing the material concept first introduced at the Kyoto store earlier this year. The same tiles wrap the cash desk and the wall behind it, their tonal depth and subtle texture giving this area of the store a quiet focal presence. Produced in Tajimi, Gifu Prefecture, one of Japan's most longstanding ceramic-making regions, the tiles bring a distinctly local craft sensibility into the space.

For the accessories lounge, stone appears through two travertine tables and select fixtures, recognisable for its pale beige tone and organic, flowing shape. Its warmth is offset by brushed stainless steel fittings, contributing a cleaner, more precise architectural edge. The flooring is finished in MORTEX, a fine mineral plaster whose seamless, concrete-like surface reinforces the store's understated architectural feel. In contrast, hand-knotted rugs of cotton and wool, made in India from recycled fibres, bring a softer, more domestic texture that plays off the space's more architectural surfaces.

The walls are finished with a decorative Italian plaster finish also used on the façade walls of the Shibuya PARCO store. Its subtle variations in texture and depth complement the natural character of the stone, wood and tiles. Throughout the space, these materials balance a dialogue with one another, natural against architectural, familiar against contemporary. The result is a calm, considered environment consistent with Studio Nicholson's evolving gallery-meets-residential approach.

For Studio Nicholson, material choice carries the same weight in its interiors as fabric and texture do in its collections, shaping how a space feels as much as how it looks.