damien hirst enlivens tiffany & co. ginza flagship by kengo kuma with ‘blossoming’ facade art

the renovated boutique reveals a blue backdrop at street level that starts 'blooming' and spreading upward -- morphing into an enchanting floral palette.

lea zeitoun July 11, 2023 3 min

tiffany & co. ginza flagship revived with floral damien hirst art

Luxury giant Tiffany & Co. celebrated the opening of its renovated Ginza flagship in Tokyo with a spellbinding artwork by English artist Damien Hirst. The floral-inspired design engulfs the store‘s faceted facade, beginning as a blue backdrop at street level before ‘blooming’ and spreading upward — morphing into an enchanting palette of pink, white, green, and red ‘petals. The opening party also welcomed guests into freshly re-imagined interiors spanning three floors.

Designed by Kengo Kuma and Associates in 1996, the 580 sqm Tiffany & Co flagship in Ginza is essentially wrapped in a reflective shell that evokes the way artisans cut jewelry. ‘The stone is slightly lifted up and the light can come in from the back of the stone,’ writes the Japanese architect. This stone-like quality materializes as a set of 292 aluminum honeycomb and glass panels that KKAA arranged onto the facade at different angles. This faceted technique allows light to penetrate and diffuse just as a it would when beaming onto a carefully-cut diamond.

damien hirst enlivens tiffany & co. ginza flagship by kengo kuma with 'blossoming' facade art - 1 — Damien Hirst’s artwork engulfing the faceted facade | image via Tiffany & Co.

revamping kengo kuma’s 1996 facade and interior design

While essentially concentrated across the Tiffany & Co. Ginza flagship facade, Damien Hirst’s artwork infiltrates the indoors as a kind of floral wallpaper. The renovated three-floor interiors, meanwhile, are carefully transformed, deviating steadily from Kengo Kuma’s (see more here) originally earth-toned and darker palette. Today, the boutique boasts a white backdrop accompanied by hints of pastel pink, light-colored wood, and sparkling details (jewelry, chandeliers, table lamps, glass, etc.). That said, the architecture studio’s initial vision of ‘a soft and translucent atmosphere‘ is still preserved by enriching every corner with subtle variations in light coming from the outside. This natural illumination ultimately blends with the elegant lighting design flooding the Ginza flagship’s three floors.

Watch below Tiffany & Co.’s Instagram video documenting the impressive ‘panel-by-panel’ layering of Damien Hirst’s floral artwork onto the faceted, Kengo Kuma-designed facade.