OH! Café

The nostalgic scent of tatami mats is the core concept of the project. The design concept needed to resemble the client’s background of being born during the Showa period in Japan. Additionally, combining the fragrance of coffee and the popular tatami mat scents creates a powerful emotional reaction towards the nostalgic feel as visitors gaze at the surroundings. Working with solid chemistry, the client and designer forged a design style that satisfied one another. The designer used gold as the core design concept. Combined with the client’s desire for a Fall color theme, a spectacularly harmonious and Zen atmosphere is created.
Upon entering the newly refurbished grounds, the outdoor corridor acts as a time tunnel to the old school's Japanese Showa era. A spiraling staircase is the focal point of the exterior, with wall-mounted spoon-like wooden sculptures to support its representation of old-school Japan.
The hallway on the first floor is designed to appear lengthier. The golden spiraling staircase acts as the bond between the top and bottom floor, blending the environment into one. The natural curvature of the staircase usher visitors from one aesthetic to the next while guiding visitors through a beautiful Showa-style Japanese era.
The second-floor design fundamentals adopt the concept of a house within a house with the addition of implementation of an indoor Japanese garden-type space in the second-floor corridor. A spacious gravel walkway guides visitors, extending to the end of the premise. A continuous flow of water produces a calming sense that reaches the entire premise, replicating the feel of the outdoor while providing the comfort of indoor harmony. The seating area is enveloped in a pavilion-type structure, granting a sense of privacy and coziness in all directions.
In memory of a forgotten design style, the designers replicated the old-school atmosphere almost perfectly through the combination of modern materials and essential core concepts from earlier periods. Undoubtedly, visitors will become engulfed and mesmerized by this cafe's comfortable, Zen, and harmonious atmosphere. It is as if they were transported to a foreign country upon stepping onto the property, satisfying their desire to travel abroad.