Found Muji

From Toast to Dover Street Market, via Anthropologie, practically every UK and US 'boutique' and brand deemed stylish appears to be completely seduced by Asian aesthetics. The utilitarian simplicity of Japan and the warm, vibrant and decorative aesthetic of India, both seem, not only huge geographical generalisations, but basic sartorial go-tos for Western designers. Of course this is a completely crude analysis and there is always a multitude of inspirations and moods influencing any worthwhile design. Furthermore accelerated globalisation has blurred  cultural lines more than ever before and the West has been borrowing from the East for centuries. However, that is not to say that there is not a presiding fashion at any one time in terms of how successful shops and brands are put together. At the moment and for some time now, it seems as though the high end of the Western or UK high street is more than slightly enamoured by Asian aesthetics. More specifically, it feels as though shops want to conjure up a lifestyle that suggests regular yoga retreats, readings of Proust, but an ultimate and deep yearning for 'a simpler life' -which (at the risk of sounding incredibly cynical) is of course niftily achieved through buying some expensive bed linen. However, if anyone does utilitarian chic well, whilst remaining fresh and original, it has to be Muji. Besides being a brilliant chain, the 'no brand brand' as it is often referred to, also has its own boutique shop. 'Found Muji' is like the mood board behind all of their products. The brand's research team travel internationally finding the most perfect, practical and seductive products they can. Often these are given a minor makeover to make them work for modern life, however, many are left just as they are found in their ultimate simplicity. As you would expect, this shop somehow manages to balance collections of the most practical nature with fresh, sometimes hot colours and seemingly extravagant logics as to how to make the simplest tasks even simpler. A pilgrimage well worth making in Tokyo.   Found Muji Japan, 〒150-0001 Tokyo, Shibuya 神宮前 5-50-6 中島ビル 1~2F t: +81 3-3407-4666 www.muji.net/foundmuji