MITTAN’s Kyoto flagship store is located in an annex (built in 1971) of the Misho Kaikan, which was built as a training centre for the Misho-ryu Sasaoka, the head of the flower arrangement school in Mototanaka, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto.

Unlike most directly-owned shops that only stock new products, the shop on the second floor displays clothes bought from customers that have been repaired, dyed and laundered for resale, as well as samples and ‘B’ products for mass production, which are not part of the general distribution system and are generated during the brand’s operations.

On the ground floor, the repairing process is open to the public on weekdays, and repairs, re-dyeing and buying are also available in the shop, giving visitors a sense of the brand’s overall image, from production to sales and post-sales care.

The shop was designed by ikken, constructed by Yamasaki Architects Studio and plastered by Tanaka Akiyoshi Sakan.

The construction materials include natural materials such as earth from Kyoto and hemp from Tochigi, as well as bamboo, wood and lime.Although the materials are not robust and unchanging, they can be repaired in the same way as clothes, and like clothes, the value of using them over time and continuing to use them through repeated restoration can be experienced in the space.

The wooden dance inside the partially visible earthen walls is a metaphor for showing the background, and the shop, like MITTAN products, has an explanatory website (this website) where visitors can check the background of the materials and production.