My first step was to visit the pleats factory. The space was packed with tools, machines, rolls of paper suspended mid-air for pleating. Amid all of it, the finished garments stood out, vivid, alive. Not because they were beautiful, but because you could feel the whole process still present in the fabric.
That’s when I understood what PLEATS PLEASE ISSEY MIYAKE is really about. Practicality, durability, comfort. Function as the source of beauty. Pleats are tools.
Overhead, the ceiling opened to its skeleton—ducts, vents, lighting rails: tools shaped by purpose, like the pleats.
In 2025 I redesigned the brand’s first store in Japan, in Roppongi, under a concept I called Experi(ment)(ence): thirty years of accumulated experience, held in a space that refuses to stop experimenting. The store is composed like the inside of a toolbox, cut by a 25° diagonal, a line the site already had. Along it, four zones carry visitors through the making, not just the result.
I hope the store becomes a place where the conversation between maker and visitor quietly begins.
[ Zone 1 ] In the "Presentation Area," a flexible display system allows for diverse exhibitions, enabling the store's appearance to change dramatically during new product launches. Large posters suspended from frames and a modular hanging system utilizing multiple suspension points on the ceiling allow for free adjustment of display height and volume. Additionally, the variable stands can be expanded as presentation tables or stacked as shelves. These systems are designed to empower the ISSEY MIYAKE team to experiment freely and fully express their creative ideas.
![PLEATS PLEASE ISSEY MIYAKE Roppongi. Store design by Nao Tamura. | [ Zone 1 ] In the "Presentation Area," a flexible display system allows for diverse exhibitions, enabling the store's appearance to change dramatically during new product launches. Large posters suspended from frames and a modular hanging system utilizing multiple suspension points on the ceiling allow for free adjustment of display height and volume. Additionally, the variable stands can be expanded as presentation tables or stacked as shelves. These systems are designed to empower the ISSEY MIYAKE team to experiment freely and fully express their creative ideas.](https://naotamura.com/img/2024/12/NaoTamura_PLPL27-1536x508.jpg "PLEATS PLEASE ISSEY MIYAKE Roppongi. Store design by Nao Tamura. | [ Zone 1 ] In the \"Presentation Area,\" a flexible display system allows for diverse exhibitions, enabling the store's appearance to change dramatically during new product launches. Large posters suspended from frames and a modular hanging system utilizing multiple suspension points on the ceiling allow for free adjustment of display height and volume. Additionally, the variable stands can be expanded as presentation tables or stacked as shelves. These systems are designed to empower the ISSEY MIYAKE team to experiment freely and fully express their creative ideas.")
![FLOW[T], WonderGlass. Design by Nao Tamura.](https://naotamura.com/img/2015/04/NaoTamura_IN_Flowt04-576x768.jpg "FLOW[T], WonderGlass. Design by Nao Tamura.")
