Kaishin No Ichigeki

“Kaishin No Ichigeki” – the name of a Ramen shop in Okinawa, Japan, which was designed by Joe Chikamori (07BEACH). This name is a signature phrase from a famous old RPG that brings to mind nostalgic video games for everyone.

The design was inspired by those early video games which were designed with dots, low-resolution, and uniquely familiar. While taking inspiration from games, Joe Chiakamori tried not to make it too childish-like game atmosphere and designed abstractly to some extent.

“The materials used for this restaurant are commonplace and inexpensive such as white ceramic tile, wood, cement, and carpet tiles. It may also sound cliché to say that the space is inspired by video games. However, the combination and the forms of these ordinary materials make the space unique that can only be found here.” – Joe told Notesbook.

The Japanese word “つけめん” (“Tsukemen” means dipping noodles, which is the signature of this shop) on the signboard is made up of cubes, creates the feeling of 3D development of pixel art. It is just cubes of wood stacked and painted yellow, but by considering the sign as a three – dimensional form, it clearly represents the design concept and catches the attention of passersby.

“The client wanted to avoid many condiments making the tabletop messy and asked us to design something to keep them hidden, a drawer, for example. We thought it would be better if each condiment was like an item that you can get in a game; for this reason, we designed the condiment pedestal so that putting more condiments makes the interior look better rather than hiding them.” – Joe explained

Specifically, The walls are covered with wavy noodle-like patterns by using white tiles on gray mortar. The noodle patterns would be more recognizable if they have spaced farther apart, but the stripe impression would be stronger, so something like a checkered pattern that appears a bit broken up and not quite recognizable was applied.

The group seating area was designed to look like a game castle, with a low wall preventing children from falling and to create a bit of a private room feel. Even just by using ordinary materials like wood and ceramic tile tops with the carpet tiles on the floor, they look unique with their combination and forms.

The ready-made round leg chairs are foreign to the interior which is composed only of squares and straight lines, but such little design noise makes the space friendlier than adherence to the design concept.

After deciding the theme of the restaurant, inspired by games, every single detail was studied extensively by 07BEACH and displayed attractively to create a unique atmosphere to the space.

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