Japanese knife shop

Canadian studio Scott & Scott Architects transformed a shop into a space dedicated to Japanese knives and culture in Vancouver, lead by chef Douglas Chang.

Scott & Scott Architects, Ai & Om knife shop, Vancouver, 2016. Photo Alana Paterson

Scott & Scott Architects designed a Japanese knife shop in Vancouver, opened by chef Douglas Chang to share his passion for quality edged tools and sharpening. His interest in hand crafted knives began and developed over his career in the kitchens of New York, Toronto and Vancouver where he valued the art of the tools in practice.

The shop is situated at street level in a storefront which corners into an internal courtyard within Vancouver’s Chinatown and compliments the neighbouring tea shops and traditional homeware shops. Scott & Scott Architects designed the space in a manner which exhibits the knives’ object quality within a system of cases that both display and store the select inventory.

Scott & Scott Architects, Ai & Om knife shop, Vancouver, 2016

The design objective was to concentrate the modest budget into the functional display elements. The space was stripped of earlier tenants embellishments, painted white and the existing concrete slab ground and stained black. Windows and internal doors were screened in jute panels which were indigo dyed in the architect’s studio. The yellow cedar and leather display cases were detailed in a manner that allows for their use as both wall and floor displays.

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Scott & Scott Architects, Ai & Om knife shop, Vancouver, 2016. Photo Alana Paterson

Scott & Scott Architects, Ai & Om knife shop, Vancouver, 2016. Photo Alana Paterson

Scott & Scott Architects, Ai & Om knife shop, Vancouver, 2016

Scott and Scott Architects Ai and Om Knives

Scott & Scott Architects, Ai & Om knife shop, Vancouver, 2016

Scott and Scott Architects Ai and Om Knives

Scott & Scott Architects, Ai & Om knife shop, Vancouver, 2016

Ai&Om Present

Scott & Scott Architects, Ai & Om knife shop, floor plan

Ai & Om knife shop, Vancouver, Canada
Program: interior renovatio
Architects: Scott & Scott Architects
Team: Susan Scott, David Scott, Maxwell Schnutgen, Jordan Beggs
Construction: Milltown Construction
Area: 87 sqm
Completion: 2016

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