WIDN blog
Toky-YO!
July 09, 2009
By Jamie Mitchell
Philip Watts, of Philip Watts Design at a branch of YO Sushi
You’re never far from a branch of the much imitated YO Sushi chain these days. Since opening the UK’s first Kaiten-zushi (conveyor-belt sushi bar) in Soho in 1997, the chain has swelled to a mighty 41 branches in the UK alone. But as I found out last night, a one-size-fits-all approach to design just isn’t good enough for YO Sushi.
I was at the latest London branch in Whiteleys shopping centre to hear designers Philip Watts of Philip Watts Design and Mat Cook of Intro Design talk about the trip to Tokyo that inspired the restaurant’s design – involving hours of film footage, very little sleep and lots of great ideas.
It can be tricky to create the buzz of the city streets inside the artificial environment of a shopping centre, but the research has really paid off. Walk through the Manga-inspired doorway, and you’ll be transported 6000 miles away to the streets of Tokyo with bold patterns, shinning spheres of metal and camouflage wallpaper on the ceiling. It wasn’t the easiest space to design and, as Watts himself says, everything has to fit around the central conveyor belt and food preparation area, but what they’ve created is a truly immersive environment – the essence of Tokyo nightlife.
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