Yin Chiku: A New Wave in Japanese Cuisine

Exploring Xie Yinqiu's Award-Winning Restaurant Design

Yin Chiku, already a mature Japanese brand with several branches in Hangzhou, sought to establish a new flagship restaurant. Xie Yinqiu, the main designer, focused on deepening the brand's understanding of Japanese material culture. The result is a restaurant that stands out with its low contrast color selection, soft lighting, and smooth shape lines, reducing the sense of existence of space decoration.

The restaurant's design is a blend of simplicity and complexity. The lobby, separated by a warm curtain, connects diners with each other. Each small box, a concentrated traditional Japanese residence building, is independent to avoid resonant disturbance. The long table rooms, featuring only long tables and square chairs, eliminate the roof line without shadow wall. The corridor window forms an interesting visual connection with the shopping mall, allowing passersby to see the customers in the store and the scenery of the restaurant.

The project, covering an area of 350 square meters, utilizes common materials used by Japanese hand craftsmen such as wood, copper, iron, and textured paint close to clay. The Tatami room, a symbol in Japanese traditional architecture, is simple in style but rigorous in design detail. This case gave full play to building grey, and produced some dramatic details.

The design process was not without its challenges. The copper plates, made using Japanese hand-crafted wood hammer techniques, were hard to find in Chinese factories. After many sample comparisons and attempts, and searches all over China, the designer finally realized the technology originally conceived with the help of technicians in Tianjin.

Yin Chiku is more than just a restaurant. It is a quiet realm where low contrast color, soft lighting and smooth modeling lines reduce the sense of existence of space decoration. The design gives full play to the dialogue between the room and the building and the space, producing some dramatic details. This innovative approach to design earned Yin Chiku the Silver A' Interior Space, Retail and Exhibition Design Award in 2019.

In conclusion, Yin Chiku is a testament to Xie Yinqiu's innovative design approach. The restaurant, with its unique properties and realization technology, stands as a beacon of modern Japanese cuisine in Hangzhou, China. Its award-winning design is a testament to the depth of the brand's understanding of Japanese material culture and a testament to the designer's ability to overcome challenges and realize his original concept.