Design brand Frama has opened its first permanent shop outside of Denmark in Tokyo, Japan, with a tactile, minimalist interior dominated by wood and stone.
Located in the Shibuya Parco shopping centre, Frama Tokyo displays the brand’s Care collection of fragrances and beauty products on stainless-steel shelves that cover three of its four walls.
Walls and counters in the shop, which was designed in-house by Frama, are made from local types of wood, including cypress and cedar.
The Frama Tokyo store is located in Shibuya Parco
Founder Niels Strøyer Christiansen said that the brand has been visiting Tokyo for more than a decade and wanted the design of the store, its first outside of Copenhagen, to blend Japanese and Danish styles.
“The shop’s design is a further reinforcement of the synergy between Frama’s design language and Japan’s, mixing local Japanese materials and makers with custom Frama designs made and developed in Denmark,” Christiansen told Dezeen.
“Because of our longstanding connection with Japan, it was less of a question of catering and more of an aim to amplify the existing appreciation and influence.”
The tactile store interior is clad in stone
The 16-square-metre Frama Tokyo shop, which opened last week, was designed to have a welcoming and calming feel while engaging the senses.
To this effect, the studio worked with material contrasts to add tactile interest to the interior.
Tall steel shelves feature woven curtains at the top and are juxtaposed with built-in wooden shelves, which curve around corners to create an organic feel.
Steel and textile are contrasted with wood
While the Shibuya Parco store doesn’t sell Frama’s standalone furniture, shelves decorated with small sculptures and homewares nod to the brand’s work in interior design.
A natural colour palette of tan and dark wood, pale stone and bare steel creates a coherent interior for the open space, which is demarcated from the rest of the shopping centre by a fabric fascia.
Faye Toogood fills interior of Frama store with colourful Collage installation
“The colour palette was chosen as part of a new chapter for the Frama Care Collection – one that unites sensorial rituals with spatial clarity,” Christiansen said.
“The tones reflect the architecture of wellbeing, creating a calm and evolving visual language that reimagines how care is encountered.”
Cedar and cypress were used for the walls and furniture
Frama chose Japan for its first international store because of the aesthetic connections and shared values between the two countries, according to Christiansen.
“The two countries share many values around craft, quality, longevity and preserving tradition – even more so when it comes to design,” he said.
“To name a few key markers, mid-century Danish design has been popular in Japan for several decades, and general trading between the two countries dates back 150 years.”
Small sculptures and tchotchkes decorate the space
He added that Japan also has high standards for shopping, with Japanese stores seen as “masters of retail”.
“Japan is still very much leading the retail experience,” Christiansen said. “While both Korea and China are growing markets and are likely outperforming Japan, the authenticity and approach to service as an art form are unique to Japan.”
Following Frama Tokyo, the brand is also looking into expanding into other markets.
In Frama’s Copenhagen store, the company previously collaborated with British designer Faye Toogood on the Collage installation and turned its space in a former apothecary into a farmers’ market.
The photography is courtesy of Frama.
AloJapan.com