The neighborhood entrance to Fuglen Kyoto. All images courtesy of Fuglen.
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Design Details: Fuglen Kyoto
Project: Fuglen Kyoto
Location: Shichiku, Kita Ward, Kyoto, Japan (on Kitayama Dori)
Completed: December 2025
Program: Coffee bar (small stand with indoor counter seating and outdoor benches)
The newest Japanese coffee bar from Norwegian-born specialty coffee brand Fuglen adapts a former neighborhood confectionery in Kyoto into a compact, street-facing coffee stand with a mid-century modern living room feel.
On Kitayama Dori in a quiet residential neighborhood called Shichiku, the coffee shop comes courtesy of local partners Ami and Shin Mononobe, a jewelry designer and design studio head, respectively, who purchased the building just prior to working with Fuglen.
While the partners have their office, atelier and jewelry shop in the same building, the shop itself is designed to reflect “a sense of neighborhood where the time flows at Kyoto pace,” according to a project description Fuglen shared with DCN.
“Kyoto has long been a great source of inspiration for us,” Keiya Takahashi, Fuglen Japan CEO and director, said. “We admire its centuries-old traditional cultures and values to protect old ways and incorporate them into modern life. We have always felt a strong synergy between Kyoto and our principles that celebrate history, heritage and craftsmanship.”
The Kyoto shop follows the brand’s familiar palette of Norwegian mid-century woodwork and warm lighting, with a ribbed wooden bar, open shelving and low tables framing the coffee station.
Echoing the intimate scale of Fuglen’s original 1963 Oslo bar, the Kyoto shop offers transparent frontage, welcoming guests to small table seating, bar counters and outdoor benches that all reinforce the mid-century modern aesthetic.
“Fuglen has always developed by taking small, considered steps. Kyoto feels like a natural continuation of our journey — a place where time and quality are deeply respected,” Fuglen Founder and Global Director Einar Kleppe Holthe said in the announcement. “We look forward to seeing Fuglen Kyoto become a natural part of the neighborhood over time.”
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