Japanese designer Wataru Kumano has transformed an old confectionary warehouse into a sweet shop that prepares and serves only one type of sugary treat (+ slideshow).
Located in Kanazawa, the shop is the second retail space for century-old Japanese confectioner Shibafune-Koide, and is situated within a building once used for manufacturing.
While the first store serves a wide range of sweet products, this new branch will only sell Monaka – a Japanese candy made of jam filling sandwiched between two thin crisp wafers.
"From the beginning, we decided to use the old factory space, because Shibafune-koide has a new factory in another place," said Kumano.
"We made a new facade on the old factory wall, and put a new box inside the space."
Kumano previously collaborated with British designer Jasper Morrison on the design of a self-assembly chair. For this project, he teamed up with graphic designer Hiromura Masaaki.
The designers opted for simple materials for the interior. Translucent polycarbonate sheets and plasterboard were used to create walls with varying opacity.
A kitchen and cash desk at the back of the space are visible through holes in a wooden wall. Here, customers can choose their flavour of Monaka and watch it being made by on-site patisserie chefs.
They can then sit down to eat at a series of custom-built wooden tables and stools.
Architect Yuko Nagayama also recently designed a cafe-cum-sweet shop in Japan, which was designed to look like two separate buildings with a tree sandwiched in the middle.
Photography is by Sohei Oya.
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