WOODWORK WELCOME COFFEE is a new café built as part of the furniture store WOODWORK, located in the Okachimachi area of Taito, Tokyo, and which was born from a lumber business which has operated here for over 100 years. WOODWORK has been involved in lumber sales and finishing as well as designing and selling original items. The business has also continued to use their knowledge wherever useful, including supporting product development for wood items, and consulting on their design and manufacture.

WOODWORK WELCOME COFFEE will be the latest development from the company, created in the hope it will bring more visitors to the store, and that the visitors will develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of WOODWORK.

When planning the space, the main concern was avoiding over-designing. By keeping the design simple, the furniture and other products for sale can be better highlighted. The hope was to design a space with room to continue to change in the future just as the company has always evolved, instead of beginning as a finished piece.

The materials used in the space were also limited as much as possible to keep things simple, with only finish types used in the space: concrete, wood, or white surfaces. For the newly done walls a concrete-style finish (achieved with mortex) was applied, and a special technique was used so that the middle of each board would show the raw wood, and then slowly fade to the finish at the sides.

Through these boards, visitors can both see and feel for themselves how a cut piece of lumber passes through various steps before becoming a piece of furniture. By allowing the finished to exist alongside the unfinished emphasizes the beauty of the finished pieces, and we feel we were successful in designing a space which creates a sense of excitement for the continued evolution of WOODWORK.