Transcript Issue 1.4 – Japanese Select Shops

Transcript would not want to speculate how the sheer number of retail stores in Japan survive financially – however having a critical mass of consumers and an ingrained shopping culture presumably plays a significant part.

Riding a single speed city bike from the quiet back streets near Kyoto Station to the Kawaramachi district near the commercial centre – whilst dodging old grandmothers and tin sized delivery trucks – I stumbled upon a store that quite possibly could be described as Transcript’s favourite retail store in Japan. Angers is a select shop with a beautiful art deco façade that has an amazing selection of stationary, books, clothing & home wares. At Anger’s you can purchase a Wegner plank armchair while perusing a book on Kyoto’s best bike rides. The Japanese have honed this strategy of product curation, purchasing products that sit amazing well together on the shelf, whilst also forming part of a cohesive and thoroughly stylish lifestyle.

Not only did the service exhibit restraint, infinite product knowledge and attention to detail, but the staff also exemplified the sophisticated people of this most cultured city.

Here are Transcript’s favourite select shops:

www.angers.jp

www.spiral.co.jp

www.arts-science.com

This is the final issue from Transcript’s short series on Japan. Please join us again in a fortnight for a new series that explores the design & commercial companies that inspire us.

BYO in style.

(oooms)

Transcript Issue 1.3 – Japanese Menswear

It’s hard not to be enveloped by Tokyo’s inherent stylishness when you wander around the city’s concrete paved streets. Here young salary men in Tokyo’s Marunouchi district have made an art of wearing perfectly cut 2 button grey suits with an attention to detail that makes an aerospace engineer’s thesis into new carbon fibre materials look decidedly pedestrian.

We’ve all heard of labels such as United Arrows, Beams, Ships & Tomorrowland – very much the establishment of Japanese menswear and greats such as Comme des Garcons and Yohji Yamamoto. However Transcript also commends labels such as Visvim, Soph, Hare and Lad Musician for producing garments that not only are embedded with a uniquely Japanese aesthetic, but also are inherently creative in how they treat fabric, silhouette and detailing.

As I left hotel Claska, on my way to Shibuya before taking a local train to Daikanyama, I suddenly became attuned to how Japanese men view fashion – clothing is not something that you wear just on a daily basis, but rather it is an integral part of life. Transcript argues that young men across the west could learn a lot from how Japanese men pair colour with texture, pattern with cut creating a thoroughly curated form of personal expression. If you have seen the staff and customers at A.P.C’s flagship homme store in Daikanyama you’ll know exactly what I mean.

LEARN YOUR LACES

It sounds easy enough, but there are countless ways of lacing your shoes, some better than others. We're here to show the only two you really need to know. Which one you choose is a matter of personal taste. Read More (Valet.)

Transcript Issue 1.2 - Vending Machines

It’s the New Year and in issue 1.2 Transcript continues its series on Japan.

We’ve all heard about the vending machine culture in the Japan and stories about how you are able to get worn girls underwear from a vending machine on the back streets of Ikebukuro. Porn and underwear notwithstanding, vending machines are an integral part of life in Japan and form not only a valuable but accessible source of food and beverage.

Standing on a street corner in Shinjuku on a Friday night as I waited for a taxi to hotel Claska, a row of 5 vending machines that flanked the wall – with their bright lights & j-pop anthems playing – caught my undivided attention. I was amazed at the sheer choice of drinks, cigarettes and food that was available. This is the concept of consumer choice taken right to its limits, where a machine would contain twenty different choices of canned coffee; where large cans of beer share the same machine as your favourite pack of Marlboros. No wonder Tokyo salary men congregate around these machines at the entrances of Shinjuku station, gulping down huge daijoki sized cans of Kirin before taking the express train to Yokohama.

Uniqlo, the world leader is fast, affordable & basic fashion has taken this concept to the next level with its UT store in Harajuku Tokyo. Designed by Kashiwa Sato of Samurai Design, this concept store has developed an innovative way of doing retail. Machines that dispense your cotton basics organised by cut, size and pantone colour line the walls on all four levels of the store. It’s basically a fully integrated shopping experience that eases the consumer’s decision making process, freeing up something that we all would like more of: time.

Wishing you a happy new year.

Read more from Transcript’s editor here

THE UNTITLED SHOP IN BROADSHEET

This is a very simple, very understated menswear store on Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, with a name of equal understatement.

The cool thing here is that it’s actually a store split between two local labels, Who Am Eye and Malmo. The former are responsible for a Melbourne take on Euro underground style with darkly draped, loose-cut silhouettes; think long t-shirts and skinny as they come jeans. Great if you can pull it off. The latter – named in honour of designer Fredrik Jonsson’s (ex Hem and Haw) Swedish hometown of Malmo – predominantly works in a monochromatic palette and gives us well-priced suits, shirts and denim fit for any wardrobe.

There are bigger plans for the premises in the future but even now Jonsson’ Swedish aesthetic shines through in touches like polished concrete floors, white walls and carefully selected vintage furniture. It suits both labels and makes for an easy and very pleasant shopping experience. (Broadsheet)

www.broadsheet.com.au

BEST COFFEE IN FITZROY - MIN LOKAL

The aptly named Min Lokal (Swedish for My Local) is one of a growing number of cafés cropping up off Melbourne's main drags. Min Lokal is housed in the former Wild Flour bakery on George Street, in the heart of Fitzroy's residential area.

Min Lokal is the café version of your local corner pub, with its large communal tables, laidback service and ever-growing host of regulars. The bulk of its customers come from the surrounding apartment blocks, terrace houses and warehouse conversions, as well as nearby businesses. (Breakfast Out)

MALMö ONLINE SALE - UP TO 50% OFF!

Soapstone Whiskey Stones

A watered down whiskey may be a preference to some, but to others it wounds the drink in a snuffer. How about we avoid the ice issue altogether? These little ice-imitators from Soapstone are specially designed to put a slight chill in your Whiskey. All you do is put them in the freezer for a few hours and then pop a couple into a glass of single malt.

DECEMBER NEWSLETTER

BOXING DAY SALE!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

+J for UNIQLO Spring/Summer 2010

After the success of the first collaboration Jil Sander and Uniqlo will in early January 2010 release the second +J collection . Sounds to me like a good enough reason for another Japan trip...

Malmö Online Shop Now Open!

www.shop.malmo.net.au

Transcript Issue 1.1 - Shinkansen

As I sat on my seat in carriage number 6 on the Hikari super-express bullet train to Kyoto, I came to the realisation of how a high speed rail network that is safe, reliable and efficient can transform a country. Passing Mount Fuji at 300km per hour on the clearest of days after a typhoon had just swept through Tokyo, I was struck as the sheer magnificence of a rail system that has a 99.5% punctuality achievement rate. As the train conductor bowed on the way out of my carriage, I bought myself a bento box and surmised that this is a fine example of how you manage people movement.

The first Shinkansen train line started operating in 1964, and heralded a new age of travel in Japan and with continual expansion you can travel to nearly all major cities by speed train. The busiest line is the JR (Japan Rail) Tokaido line which runs between Tokyo and Osaka carrying 151 million passengers in 2008. Currently JR is busy building new lines that will be used by new Maglev trains that are capable of reaching speeds of 550km per hour. It is anticipated that this will cut the journey from Tokyo to Osaka from 3 hours to just under 2 hours making it possible to be in Aoyama for a business meeting in the morning and be back in Namba tucking into takoyaki for supper. In a time where air travel is increasingly cutting back its service levels due to extremely high overheads, Transcript feels that this is the long haul travel option

of the future.

Transcript challenges state governments of Australia to follow this lead because bureaucracy is no longer an excuse for inactivity. The Shinkansen rail network is a perfect example of what foresight, planning and funding of infrastructure projects can achieve in a country that prides itself on efficiency.

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Transcript Issue 1 - Japan

Malmö is proud to present the first in a series of posts titled Transcript. Transcript is a fortnightly online journal that explores objects, companies, people, moments and places in the world that inspire and constantly open up our eyes.

The first series of Transcript will focus on Japan. Having recently spent a month travelling from the madness of Tokyo to experiencing onsen on Kyushu Island and then back through the serene streets of Kyoto, we became slowly enveloped by the country’s undeniable beauty and the politeness of its people.

It is a place that overstimulates the senses yet has amazingly tranquil moments of stillness. Where bullet trains co-exist with beautiful old bicycles; where automated toilets are used by 90-year-old grandfathers; where vending machine food coexists with the highest grade of sashimi Tuna. Who would have thought that in the busy centre of Shibuya you could stumble upon an old auntie on a back street – presumably called Yuki-san – grilling the most tender of yakitori skewers. She has probably been grilling these skewers everyday for the last thirty years and it is this continual dedication to a single craft that Transcript totally respects.

Ultimately, Japan is a country of contrasts. And as these contrasts are too diverse and too overwhelming to cover in a single post, Transcript will look into Bullet Trains, Vending Machines, Japanese Menswear and Japanese Select Shops in the next four issues.

Wishing you a happy holiday period.

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Online Shop Launching 11th December

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JIL SANDER - Holiday Collection

A collaboration with Marchon Eyewear has resulted in this collection of
amazing sunglasses.