At the edge of Harajuku is Papier Labo, a pint-sized art supplies shop and design office. Shelves are lined with art postcards, calendars and notebooks, along with house-designed bookends, limited edition bric-a-brac and old curios like vintage Japanese type blocks. With a couple of hard-at-work designers sitting behind the counter and upstairs in the loft, the shop mainly serves as a small showroom for Papier Labo’s own design and letterpress work. The designers here often collaborate with artists to create the original products on display, such as New Year cards for the 2019 zodiac year by woodblock artist Yuko Kan, or patterned cartons and illustrated stickers from artist Masanao Hirayama. This story is from Kinfolk Issue Thirty-Two Buy Now Related Stories Arts & Culture Design Kunio Maekawa A new exhibition at Kinfolk’s Case Study Room in Tokyo. Design Issue 32 Yoon Ahn Meet the designer who made Tokyo her home, then took the city’s grunge-chic aesthetic to Dior—and the world. Design City Guide Issue 32 SyuRo A contemporary crafts shop. Design Issue 51 John Pawson From the king of minimalism: “I find the essential and get the design down to a point where you can’t add or subtract from it.” Design Interiors Issue 51 Axel Vervoordt Inside the world of Axel Vervoordt. Design Issue 51 Inga Sempé “Minimalism is boring as hell, and on top of that, it’s preachy.”
Design Issue 32 Yoon Ahn Meet the designer who made Tokyo her home, then took the city’s grunge-chic aesthetic to Dior—and the world.
Design Issue 51 John Pawson From the king of minimalism: “I find the essential and get the design down to a point where you can’t add or subtract from it.”
