Using cutting-edge VR and AR technologies, GARDE is designing the interiors of the future for its clients.
With a new, globalized world, there is a real interplay with design influences, and if you look at more traditional Japanese designs they tend to be more minimalist, lean, and sophisticated, which contrasts against more traditional Western design philosophies that stress maximalism and extravagance. In your opinion, how would you define Japanese design aesthetics in today’s globalized world?
From my understanding Japanese design is represented by minimalism, with simplicity and well-calculated elements reigning supreme. There are four key elements. The first is the clear message that needs to be conveyed, the second is simplicity while retaining functionality, the third is the visual aesthetics, and finally, you have sustainability. Especially when you look at large-scale buildings such as residential facilities and hospitals, the element of sustainability is crucial in Japanese design. Large-scale buildings have to last a long time so the design needs to be ageless and match the era. Having a simple design with high functionality allows the building itself to be sustainable.
Our designs for luxury brands and department stores keep the interior design simple since the products themselves are the main stars. This simplicity enhances the products further, however, we do try to retain elements of traditional Japanese esthetics. Each team tries to retain some national value within their esthetics.
We like to consider our company as more of a client-based design company, putting more of an emphasis on the exact wishes of the client combined with our vast expertise. We provide our services accordingly and we have a diverse range of customers, from department stores to luxury five-star hotels.
The COVID pandemic changed the way that people work. These days teleworking and hybrid work styles have become a lot more common. It seems that the trend is heading towards more focused work being done at home and offices becoming a place to collaborate or share ideas. Given that it is now three years past the pandemic, do you still believe this is the case? Is this trend something you still consider in your design philosophy today?
The idea of remote working definitely changed right after the COVID-19 pandemic first hit. Unfortunately, I cannot disclose the name, but one of our biggest clients is one of the biggest tech companies in the world, and we take care of their offices across the globe. In the ASEAN region, this company is evolving so it is important that we gather and understand their needs. This company actually changed its work style away from pure remote working shortly after the pandemic since it understood that relying on remote working too heavily was not productive. In order to enhance productivity they need to create a new style of office and gather people since communication is such a key factor. One particular design element was that each person now has more space in the office, allowing for new styles of hybrid working. Understanding this new work style is essential in designing spaces for clients. You could say that interior design is more about understanding how people use space rather than understanding certain aesthetic elements.
Many firms large and small are now trying to get their employees back to offices. Our company is no different, and while a few years ago 90% of our employees used to do remote work, nowadays we have gathered a majority of the staff members back to offices to be more productive.
COVID-19 was a huge struggle for Japanese companies globally, and that includes ourselves too, but there is a silver lining where in the aftermath people understand more about the balance between work and personal life. People also learned that you could increase productivity by restricting working hours. I believe that these aspects have actually been somewhat positive left by COVID-19.
ABW, also known as activity-based workplaces, is a very important concept nowadays. The general affairs of a company delineates what kind of work style would be in place at a company. We listen to what these criteria are and then translate that into space creation. Small details such as the walking distance to a photocopying machine are all calculated in order to increase productivity. Break rooms are also key in this regard, and some companies might utilize not only coffee, but also billiards and pinball to motivate staff and make them feel comfortable.
Work-life balance isn’t something that is usually associated with Japanese working culture, and during some of our recent interviews, we have heard a common link between these problems and the demographic decline that Japan is currently experiencing. Japan is facing a manpower shortage of 10 million workers by 2040, which obviously impacts domestic demands as well as recruitment. Fortunately, your company has a very international team, so how important do you think it is from a business perspective for companies to look overseas to secure new talent here in Japan?
The Japanese market is shrinking year-on-year, and soon the population is going to dip below 100 million. If you look at the ASEAN region, there are about 600 million people there, a bigger population than Europe, and the ASEAN region is rapidly increasing its demographics. Our focus is to strengthen our positioning in the ASEAN region for both market and employment reasons. Project designers from the ASEAN region are very talented. Another one of our strategies is to increase the number of women as well as foreign employees. In fact, in China, similar industries are very female-dominated.
With the growth of new tools such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR), designers are now able to leverage these tools to create 3D models that both designers and clients can experience, allowing space designs to be explored before anything is built. How is the integration of these cutting-edge technologies influencing the way designers carry out their workflow?
Conventionally, when discussing with our customers we used to show them 2D renders, but we have now shifted to showing them 3D renders, and this has allowed us to shorten the time needed for approval from a customer.
We have a proven track record with commercial facilities and department stores, and over the past 15 years, we have worked on over 160 different projects. The sizes are normally in the range of about 150 to 200 square meters. 3D renders and videos for clients are all done in-house, and while we can create more realistic renders in the Metaverse, we opted to keep things more simple for now. In fact, we make such 3D presentations for each individual pitch or client, and in particular, we have seen that the Chinese really like this approach.
Last year you launched your Metaverse business, designing and implementing metaverse spaces, pioneering some of the principles needed to convert traditional design into an immersive digital space. Of course, there are a lot of challenges associated with using this new technology, especially when it comes to having seamless functionality across different platforms. When using Metaverse tools, how do you ensure compatibility between existing systems and the Metaverse platform itself?
Metaverse is compatible with the 3D software that we use, and we are now collaborating with outside vendors to convert our 3D assets into the Metaverse. We are also sending out our designers and staff to learn this conversion process. There are essentially two pillars to our Metaverse approach. The first is an extension of our design service, providing further added value to our customers. One example might be the Tower Mansions in Tokyo. Conventionally developers need to create showroom model rooms for people to come and see but that is very costly and takes up space. Now we can construct a small room that demonstrates the development through VR and the Metaverse. With this approach we can showcase multiple designs with less cost and less space, thus saving time as well.
The second approach is creating a completely new business around the Metaverse, supporting our clients. This has now become a new pillar for profitability. We foresee a future where people make purchases in the Metaverse world and so we are now preparing the foundation for that future. A good example of this future comes from major fashion brands such as Gucci and Balenciaga doing fashion shows as Metaverse experiences, although they haven’t been able to make any sales in the Metaverse to my knowledge. There are still many hindrances such as constantly having to take new photos of products in 3D which can be quite cumbersome. Additionally, smartphone speeds are not good enough to accommodate Metaverse experiences at this moment. I think once technologies start catching up people will be able to shop sites like Amazon in VR as they would a real-world store.
Do you foresee a future where 3D world purchases stay in the 3D world? Is that a business opportunity?
Yes, there is a possibility that people will only tend to live in VR worlds. Right now fashion purchases for Metaverse avatars are quite popular and big name brands are now releasing clothing items for Metaverse avatars. With this continued worldwide trend Metaverse could possibly become mainstream.
Mitsukoshi Department Store has its own Metaverse store but it is still like a game world. Our uniqueness is that we can provide designs that work in both the real world and the virtual world. Brands selling products in the Metaverse need to have the assets as realistic as possible so that once a person picks up the product in VR they can see details and textures of the product. We are very particular in our process of conversion from the real world to the Metaverse.
I would also like to tell you about an advanced piece of software that we have developed which allows us to capture the sunrise to nightfall; 24 hours and 15 minutes of a location. It would allow brands to show off their buildings and how their products change over time. We have created this within a Metaverse World that we dub a museum, and one business model we are considering is lending out this Metaverse museum to other entities, for example, regional governments. Another aspect of our business is regional revitalization, and local artists find it very expensive to exhibit their work in local museums. By utilizing our Metaverse World those artists could exhibit local works all around the world and attract interested tourists to that location.
You mentioned how it can broaden the horizons of artists, but we think another way of thinking is from a sustainability and climate change point of view. Obviously, there is quite a large carbon footprint associated with building event spaces for single events and then tearing them down. Do you see the creation of virtual event spaces as a growth area, especially in terms of holding events in Metaverse spaces your firm has designed?
Personally, I don’t see rapid or huge growth in the Metaverse space because where we are now, nothing really matches a real-world experience. Those real-life experiences such as concerts or events will remain in the real world, and it was the COVID pandemic that pushed technologies to this point. I think since then there has been a return to the understanding that nothing can compare to real-world experiences.
In 2020 you launched your real estate division which offers different properties throughout the ASEAN region as well as the US. One thing we noticed, especially when it came to Japanese properties, is that there was a large volume of abandoned buildings, usually schools in areas outside of Tokyo. With the demographic decline in Japan, the common belief is that it is very difficult to monetize these sorts of buildings. Is this business something that aligns with your regional development goals? Do you foresee opportunities for redevelopment, redesign, or upscaling of existing Japanese buildings?
Before starting our real estate business international brands had been our clients for design services relating to their headquarters. There was one particular brand that wanted to open a store in Ginza as well as several other locations so they requested that we find good locations. We thought, “Why not make this into a business?” We have acquired a staff member with a certificate of real estate brokerage and began providing new real estate brokerage services to international brands. It isn’t actually a part of our regional revitalization project but since beginning this business it has evolved and in part, we are using it for regional land revitalization as well. We are converting hotels and residences in regional areas.
We start by finding a plot of land and making a master plan for the usage of the land. If it is a hotel we need to find an operator, create a comprehensive set, and then ask the developer to purchase the asset. We have multiple hotels around Kyoto and the surrounding area. It is hard to acquire huge design projects but if we provide the real estate location and the upstream to the downstream operator we can design the building. This is the crux of our new real estate business model.
Your company has been very successful with its international expansion, opening your first international office in Milan back in 1997. Now you have offices in six countries around the globe. Are you hoping to expand into any new international partnerships, and if so, are there any specific markets that you are targeting?
We already have offices in Dubai, Jakarta, and Manila, which we believe are locations for future growth. Japanese developers are now investing massively in these locations, particularly in the ASEAN region. Except for Vietnam, ASEAN countries don’t have restrictions on foreign investment so there have been many joint ventures created by major Japanese developers. Our office in Kuala Lumpur has received many requests from companies looking to be introduced to major Japanese developers. We have been acting as a mediator between these parties.
Imagine that we came back in 2035 and had this interview all over again. What goals or dreams would you like to achieve by the time we come back for that new interview?
First and foremost, there are only 0.03% of Japanese companies with sales revenue above JPY 10 billion. There is a huge wall to overcome this benchmark, so our target is to break beyond that JPY 10 billion mark, and in order to achieve that we know that we need to increase our headcount around 3 or 4 times with a more globalized team and office locations.
For more information, visit their website at: https://www.garde-intl.com/
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