Welcome to Notes on Design, my new quarterly column - a space for pause, perspective, and considered observation.
Concept sketch: A Contemporary Ryokan Apartment for The Row.
There’s a common misconception that minimalism is easy. It isn’t. True restraint is brutal – a process of elimination that leaves nowhere to hide. The Row understands this. Their spaces, like their clothes, are acts of control disguised as calm.
In architecture, I’ve learned that simplicity costs more – in time, in thought, in precision. Every shadow has to earn its place. This feeling is eloquently explored in the Japanese essay In Praise of Shadows by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, “were it not for shadows, there would be no beauty.” The interplay between light and dark on the simplest surface is often, more than enough.
This sentiment inspired my desire to sketch a contemporary Ryokan apartment in Kyoto for The Row. A study of stillness, where timber is in quiet dialogue. Artwork, objects, playlists, bedding, robes, and slippers – all curated by The Row. Nothing to sell, only a world to enter.
In this environment one can’t rely on noise to distract. You have to commit to the purity of the idea, and that’s often a terrifying thing to do. But it’s also liberating. When a space is stripped of excess, it becomes a mirror: of intention, of craftsmanship, of confidence.
True brand confidence doesn’t design to impress; it designs to endure. That, to me, is the highest form of luxury – the kind that doesn’t need to ask for attention.
"*" indicates required fields
