Architect：Yagyug Douguten

Location：Japan, 〒890-0053 Kagoshima, Chūōchō, １−１

Project Year：2020

Category：Shops

This is the first store of the OIMON (オイモン) brand, perfecting the art of new “sweet potato treats”, integrating local ingredients and food culture of Kagoshima Prefecture. Its signature product is a freshly baked sweet potato cake with the flavor of komikan (small mandarin oranges). Upon designing the store, we visited local producers and factories within the prefecture, traveling around sweet potato fields, sweet potato processing factories, craft gin distilleries, and Sakurajima komikan orange groves. The highlight of our research trip was the sight of sweet potatoes being pulled out from the fertile soil of Kagoshima. The process of digging deep into the soil while feeling out the sweet potatoes with hands reminded us of a common thread shared with the attitude of the brand OIMON, which deep-dives into the exploration of creating treats using sweet potatoes.

The storefront fixture, made of locally-sourced cedarwood bent into a rhythm of concaves and convexes, resembles ridges and furrows in sweet potato fields. Thin strips of caramelized sweet potatoes are represented by the shimmering surface of fiberglass-resin coated grain of cedarwood with a thin layer of fiberglass on top. The design was born out of a desire to transform the local cedarwood into a material not only unique to the local region but also delicious-looking. Boxes of the OIMON treats are lined up between the curvy ridges.

Boxes of sweets are also nestled among the many holes puncturing the earthen plaster wall. The size of the storefront signage resembles that of beni-satsuma (red sweet potatoes), portraying their vines being pulled up. The concrete stool represents a mound of soil. By coating it with fiberglass resin, the concrete is also given a soft, delicious-looking texture as if caramelized.

Everything expresses digging, feeling through the soil with hands, and the delicious food nurtured in the Kagoshima climate.

We would be happy if customers could experience the fresh sensation of “digging” up undiscovered charms hidden within the earth.

OIMON is the first regional brand from BAKE Inc., which has developed BAKE CHEESE TART shops (specializing in freshly baked cheese tarts) and PRESS BUTTER SAND shops (specializing in buttercream sandwich cookies). OIMON’s signature product, freshly baked sweet potato cake with the flavor of komikan oranges, is prepared fresh in the store. Shortbread encases a mandarin-flavored sweet potato paste, made from beni-satsuma sweet potatoes, topped with caramelized strips of sweet potatoes. Thin strips of sweet potatoes are used for Kagoshima’s local dish called “gane” (sweet potato tempura). Locals are proud of the nostalgic taste of the gane. In addition, the company further pursues a new style of “sweet potato treats” by using local ingredients and incorporating the local food culture, such as the brushing on a hint of crafted gin made from Sakurajima komikan oranges, to add flavor.

Client / BAKE Inc.

Direction / Simpei Kikuchi (BAKE Inc.)

Interior design / Fumitaka Suzuki (Yagyug Douguten)

Lighting design / ModuleX Inc.

Construction /  Ryuji Nakazono(Taisho Kougei Corp.)

Kitchen equipment / Aria co.ltd.

Photo / Yasuhiro Takagi

Photo copy right / BAKE Inc.

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