Designed by Reiichi Ikeda, in collaboration with graphic designer Yuma Harada, Osaka’s IRO is an utterly splendid visual treat. At times shambolic, uneasy and confused, whilst at others elegant, picture-perfect and stretching the pliable boundaries of originality almost as far as they’ve ever been; this hair salon dispels the outdated proviso that all hairdressing emporia should be alike.
Wood, concrete, brickwork; this place displays beautiful refinement in its ramshackle build, even the purposely mis-matched chairs look as though they were made as part of the same set. If cold, stark minimalism had been left behind in the tail-end of the last century – in place of carefully cobbled together eclecticism – then surely mix’n’match minimalism is the future we can dream of.
Photography, Yoshiro Masuda
