Warm To This Look

Pink And Red Dominate This Japanese Café, Which Boasts A Design By Transit Branding Studio Inspired By Koji Production.

- Sasha Gonzales

Often called Japan’s “national fungus”, koji has been used in traditional Japanese cuisine for centuries.

Made from cooked rice that has been inoculated with a mould called Aspergillus oryzae and then left to ferment for two days at 32 to 42 deg C, this fermentation starter is commonly used in the production of alcoholic beverages like sake and shochu and Japanese condiments such as miso, mirin and shoyu.

Uonuma Jozo is one of Japan’s most well-known koji makers, with a factory in Uonuma, in Niigata Prefecture in northern Japan.

The company also operates Koji Saryo Produced by Uonuma Jozo, a café in the Mie Prefecture that serves amazake, a sweet fermented koji drink, among other koji products.

When he was approached to come up with a look for the café, Japanese designer Atsushi Suzuki from Transit Branding Studio drew inspiration from the “warmth” generated by the koji-making process.

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“During koji production, heat is released as microorganisms feed on the organic matter,” Suzuki explains.

“This is the warmth of fermentation, but it’s a warmth that is vital and living and that changes second by second.

“I wanted to design the cafe to reflect this organic and natural process.”

Suzuki teamed up with a production company, Zeek, and lighting designer Mizuki Matsuura, to construct an acrylic light feature in the centre of the café.