Osaka-based studio Sides Core cuts to the chase with Flux, a Kyoto hair salon that combines nostalgia with modernism.
Housed on the second floor of a former car showroom, designer Sohei Arao transformed the 148.5 sq m concrete enclave into an urban hairdressing refuge. The salon, founded by Kengo Nakamura, presents a theatrical concept to showcase staff’s hairdressing and styling skills in an immersive space, while also playing with perspective and perception.
In keeping with the parlour’s philosophy to create a ‘flowing’ yet inviting setting that exhibits talent, mirrors are suspended 1.5 m above the floor with only a small selection of key pieces filling cutting and styling areas, like Hans J Wegner’s Elbow chair and Jaime Hayón’s navy Piña seat.
Elsewhere, white draping curtains soften stark concrete silhouettes, enveloped by floor-to-ceiling windows that offer striking vistas of the cityscape. In harmony with its surroundings both in ethos and design, Flux’s intriguing use of depth, a characteristic of Kyoto’s architecture, prompts users to take a step through the looking glass – with the hair to match.
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Sides Core website
ADDRESS
Sky House 2F
470 Zaimokucho, Nanajo-dori
Kyoto, Japan
-
MoMA names Christophe Cherix its new directorThe Swiss-born curator has worked in the Museum of Modern Art’s drawings and prints department since 2007
-
The Yale Center for British Art, Louis Kahn’s final project, glows anew after a two-year closureAfter years of restoration, a modernist jewel and a treasure trove of British artwork can be seen in a whole new light
-
How Le Corbusier defined modernismLe Corbusier was not only one of 20th-century architecture's leading figures but also a defining father of modernism, as well as a polarising figure; here, we explore the life and work of an architect who was influential far beyond his field and time
-
Diffar is a new Japanese hair brand making perfume oil at the foot of Mount FujiDiffar, a newly founded Japanese beauty brand, creates perfume oils for hair in its Mount Fuji laboratory that are set to travel the world
-
Japanese hair art: geiko wigmakers in Kyoto bring modernity to an age-old artIn the first of a three-part series on Japanese hair art, we visit the studio of a father-and-son team in Kyoto, making wigs for the city’s geishas
