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Bohemian Rhapsody

Free People debuts a boho chic aesthetic in its Tokyo flagship

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When Free People (Philadelphia), the free-spirited bohemian women’s lifestyle brand, opened its first store in the early 70s it catered to the era’s burgeoning “youthquake” culture, celebrating a new freedom of expression – and dress. With its success, a second store opened and was renamed Urban Outfitters. And, as we know, the rest is retail history.

The Free People name was resurrected in 1984 when its founders created a wholesale division, which expanded to encompass a line that was sold in department stores and small boutiques; its first free-standing store opened in 2002. Today, Free People has more than 75 stores in the U.S. and recently began expanding internationally.

The target customer, according to the company, “is a 26-year-old girl, smart, creative, confident and comfortable in all aspects of her being, free and adventurous, sweet to tough to tomboy to romantic.” Think Bonnaroo bohemian meets Coachella indie, favoring crop tops and printed sarongs, vegan backpacks, leather loop necklaces and even a $1400 hand-painted tent, available online. It’s as much for partiers at regional music festivals as for young women toiling away in corporate cubicles to support their glamping habit.

Robin Osler can spot a Free People shopper on the street (or at a festival, were she so inclined to attend one), having been charged last year with designing the brand’s first international flagship in the heart of Tokyo’s Harajuku shopping district. The founding principal of Elmslie Osler Architect (New York) Osler also is well versed in the Urban Outfitter culture, having designed 15 stores for sister brand Anthropologie.

“[Free People] has different characters they base their collections on: the artist, the dreamer, the romantic,” Osler says. “The challenge in working for them, which really is a fantastic challenge, is: How do you create a space for all these girls to be happy in? A space where all these characters will want to hang out and shop and get to know each other?”

Osler and her team have worked with Free People since the company began rolling out stores. And, in the spirit of the brand, Osler was encouraged to design entirely by hand sketching, including all plans and elevations and perspectives, in ink and colored pencils. (The computer-generated construction drawings would come later.) “It was a real treat for me because I don’t get to draw much anymore,” Osler says.

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But don’t let the relaxed attitude fool you: this was one fast-track project. From assignment to opening, the project spanned just seven months and included three trans-Pacific site visits, a side trip to India to source fixtures and an accelerated course in Japanese culture. Recalls Osler, “We were literally feeding [the architect] drawings. We’d finish one thing and send it over – the lighting plan, the elevations, the finishes – piece by piece. They integrated those into construction documents and sent them back to us to review.” Construction began last September and the store opened in November.

FROM BUNKER TO BOUTIQUE
With the Tokyo flagship, Osler’s challenge was to convert “a cavernous, cold and dark concrete bunker,” a former home goods store, into a warm, tactile environment that reflected the brand’s bohemian spirit. “The scale of the space was quite large, and the only light entering into the building was through two small slotted skylights 30 feet above the store floor,” Osler says.

To present a more pedestrian-friendly presence, the building’s façade was sheathed in whitewashed wood with wide glass doors and plantings were placed at street level. Shoppers enter through an intimate side garden with trees illuminated in white twinkle lights or along the street and down a curving natural wood staircase.

To break up the interior space and add warmth, steel structural beams were covered in reclaimed wood. Unpolished wood floor planks with visible nail holes contrast with whitewashed wood walls.

The brand’s signature brightly quilted chairs, intricate seasonal displays and handmade fixtures (including whimsical hand-crocheted clothing hangers) convey a multicultural, artisanal spirit. Osler says the retailer’s in-house team made a special trip to the store, filling it with unique objects accumulated through travels, hand-stenciled textiles and string art.

On the second level, a mezzanine overlooking the main floor is used for yoga classes and events. Storage space is compact and dressing rooms were purposely kept small, at least by Western standards.

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“They [the on-site contractor] said, ‘we don’t need them that big, not so big,’” recalls Osler. “For them, there’s a scale issue that’s different from ours.” Also, theft and litter are non-issues. Osler recalls, “I asked, ‘Don’t we need security stanchions by the doors?’ ‘No! No worries,’ I was told. And, they’re very adept at storage. They don’t need a big stockroom. They will organize it so you have double- or triple-height storage. For us there’s a liability issue with ladders. It’s not true there.

“[The Japanese] shop differently and interact differently with the store itself, but just like American women, they want a place to play, linger and shop, a place that makes them feel worldly and adventurous. The Free People store creates that environment.”

PROJECT SUPPLIERS
Retailer & Design
Urban Outfitters Group, Philadelphia

Design
EOA/Elmslie Osler Architect, New York: Robin Osler, principal; Dani Alvarez, project manager
Free People, Philadelphia

Audio/Visual; Ceilings
World Co. Ltd, Kobe, Japan

Fixtures, Furniture, Props & Decs, Signage/Graphics, Materials/Wallcoverings
Free People, Philadelphia

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Mannequins & Forms
Katwaria Sourcing LLP, New Delhi, India
Free People, Philadelphia

Lighting
1 Lux
Free People, Philadelphia

Flooring
Board Co. Ltd.

Architecture and General Contractor
Nomura, Tokyo

Photography: Nacasa & Partners, Tokyo

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