Tufts of brightly coloured electrical cabling give the walls and furniture of this bar by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma a hairy appearance (+ slideshow).
The tangle of rainbow-hued wires drapes down the walls, over table-tops and chair backs, and around light-fittings in Tetchan – a bar that serves grilled meat skewers known as Yakitori.
Kengo Kuma & Associates renovated both the ground and first floors of the small eatery and bar located in Kichijoji, a suburb of Tokyo.
To contrast with the multi-coloured and jumbled aesthetic of the upper level, the architects added white and transparent details made from molten plastic to the street-level bar.
"It is mostly made of recycled materials," said the studio.
"We applied recycled LAN cables, which we call Mojamoja, to describe its shaggy, woolly look, and what is called acrylic ball – left-over melted acrylic byproduct pieces – to everything from interior materials to furniture."
"As a result, some amazing interiors emerged, where form becomes invisible, and only materiality and various colours appear as if floating in the air," added the team.
Slabs of melted acrylic were used to form the furniture downstairs, including a bar at the centre of the space. This was formed from stacked disks of the melted and solidified plastic, made translucent by its bubbly texture.
Metal-framed bar stools positioned around the edge of the serving counter have square seats made from the same molten acrylic material, while a graphic mural by Japanese artist Teruhiko Yumura covers one of the walls.
Photography is by Erieta Attali.
