Acne Studios, the Stockholm-born fashion house known for its cerebral minimalism and art-infused identity, has marked a significant new chapter with the unveiling of its Tokyo flagship. Situated in the fashion-rich Aoyama district — an area synonymous with high-concept retail and architectural experimentation — the three-storey space is more than a store; it is a material poem to Tokyo’s multilayered identity.

Architecturally audacious, texturally rich, and steeped in artistic nuance, the new flagship illustrates Acne Studios’ ongoing effort to evolve beyond conventional retail formats. The collaborative design by Halleroed and creative director Jonny Johansson is at once raw and refined, reimagining the very notion of what it means to shop in a modern metropolis.

A New Retail Architecture in Aoyama

The location of the flagship is telling: nestled directly across from Herzog & de Meuron’s iconic Prada Aoyama building, Acne Studios isn’t merely placing itself on the fashion map — it is challenging the status quo of luxury architecture in Tokyo.

Halleroed’s brutalist approach frames the flagship in a vocabulary of poured concrete, coarse textures, and angular geometries. Yet, despite the rawness of its architectural backbone, the store feels intimate and elegant. Central to this effect is the use of signature pink granite — not just as a decorative touch, but as a foundational material that anchors the entire structure in warmth and tactility.

The granite’s rosy tones soften the industrialism, creating an almost geological dialogue between stone, concrete, and air. It evokes both the rawness of the Tokyo underground and the softness of the city’s ephemeral cherry blossoms.

An Immersive Interior: Where Art and Fashion Collide

Inside, the space reads like a gallery, yet resists pretension. Display fixtures float like sculptures. The arrangement is both sparse and deliberate — a carefully choreographed experience designed to slow time and invite contemplation. Fashion doesn’t scream for attention; it breathes alongside art.

The seating — designed by Max Lamb, the British sculptor and designer famed for his primitive-modern aesthetic — provides more than rest: it completes the spatial language of the store. Lamb’s sculptural furniture mirrors the texture of stone, with asymmetrical edges and monolithic profiles, like ancient ruins set within a postmodern temple.

Mannequins, often ignored in fashion retail, become central figures in this environment. Designed by British artist Daniel Silver, they are expressive, elongated, almost emotive. Their forms carry an eerie humanity — fragmented yet intimate, echoing the surreal sculptures of Alberto Giacometti or the warped figures of Francis Bacon.

The Japan Connection: Takuro Kuwata and Cultural Synthesis

What truly anchors the flagship within the Japanese context is its collaboration with ceramic artist Takuro Kuwata. Known for pushing the boundaries of traditional pottery, Kuwata’s explosive glazes, cracking textures, and chromatic palettes are disruptive and joyful.

His ceramic installations — placed throughout the store in both functional and decorative contexts — create moments of visual surprise. In a pink-granite-lined alcove, a brilliant golden vessel bursts with celestial irregularities. Near the womenswear collection, a deep blue-glazed bowl reflects the light like a liquid moon crater. It’s this harmonious discord that makes Kuwata’s pieces ideal companions to Acne’s clothing: structured yet spontaneous, serene yet bold.

To commemorate the opening, Kuwata also co-developed a capsule collection with Acne Studios. The collection includes limited-edition denim jackets, oversized shirting, and accessories adorned with ceramic-inspired prints, textures, and embellishments. A ceramic button on a denim jacket becomes a talisman; a sculpted belt buckle is no longer just functional, but poetic.

Lighting the Mood: Benoit Lalloz’s Atmospheric Precision

French lighting designer Benoit Lalloz — a long-time Acne Studios collaborator — was entrusted with bringing rhythm and emotion to the space. Lighting here does not merely illuminate; it choreographs.

Each floor features distinct lighting zones that shape movement and mood. On the ground floor, soft washes of light glide across the pink granite, emphasizing texture over form. As one ascends to the upper levels, spotlights cast elongated shadows from the mannequins, creating theatrical silhouettes against stark backdrops. Lalloz’s vision elevates the store into an emotional terrain — quiet, mysterious, and cinematic.

Three Levels, One Narrative

The store spans three levels, each with its own narrative tempo:

• Ground Floor: Dedicated to accessories, leather goods, and the Kuwata capsule collection. The entry point into Acne’s world, this space functions as both a welcome hall and art chamber.
• First Floor: Womenswear, displayed with a serenity and spaciousness akin to a museum gallery. Key seasonal pieces are displayed like artifacts — minimal, deconstructed, and sensual.
• Second Floor: Menswear and footwear dominate here, surrounded by more of Max Lamb’s sculptural interventions. This floor feels heavier, more grounded — the most “brutalist” of the trio — yet warmed by accents of pale wood and soft lighting.

Each level is accessible by an elegantly austere staircase that spirals up like a concrete ribbon, connecting the conceptual flow of fashion, space, and artistic expression.

Beyond Tokyo: Acne’s Global Expansion and Cultural Roots

The Tokyo flagship is part of Acne Studios’ larger 2025 vision to assert itself not just as a fashion brand, but as a cultural curator. Just weeks prior, the brand opened Acne Paper Palais Royal — its first permanent art gallery in Paris.

Housed beneath the arcades of the Palais Royal, the gallery represents a commitment to Acne Studios’ publishing roots, which began with Acne Paper, a biannual magazine that melds fashion, philosophy, and art. The gallery extends this ethos into a permanent space, hosting exhibitions, salons, and collaborations that fuse Acne’s aesthetic with the European avant-garde.

This dual expansion — Paris and Tokyo — reflects the brand’s twin anchors: Scandinavian cool and global intellectualism.

Acne Studios and Japan: A History of Mutual Influence

Acne Studios has long nurtured a reciprocal relationship with Japanese culture. From its early collections referencing manga iconography and kabuki theater silhouettes to its reverence for Japanese denim and artisanal craft, the Tokyo flagship is not an arrival — it’s a homecoming.

The Japanese fashion audience, discerning and deeply loyal, has consistently embraced Acne’s avant-garde elegance. This new physical space now reciprocates that affection — not with loud gestures, but with subtle mastery.

A New Benchmark in Experiential Retail

Retail architecture is in flux. With online shopping eclipsing traditional retail, stores are no longer mere points of sale. They must become spaces of emotion, interaction, and meaning. Acne Studios’ Tokyo flagship exemplifies this evolution. It doesn’t just sell clothes — it invites conversation. It doesn’t dictate style — it whispers possibility.

This is not a “store opening” in the classic sense. It is a declaration of intent. It is Acne Studios saying, “We belong in Tokyo — not as guests, but as contributors.”

Landing in Big, Breathing in Deep

The Aoyama flagship is a spatial manifesto — quietly radical, poetically brutalist, unmistakably Acne. In a city where architecture speaks volumes, Acne Studios has added a distinct new voice — confident, collaborative, and deeply tuned to the local culture.

And perhaps that is what defines this opening more than anything: an empathy for place. Rather than imposing itself onto Tokyo, Acne Studios has folded itself into its texture — becoming part of the city’s fabric, its rhythm, its art.

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