a lakeside Postcard from Japan
Hello friend,
I’m at Kawaguchi-ko, one of the lakes which formed and re-formed as Mount Fuji erupted every couple thousand years since 2 million years ago. The Fuji Five Lakes as we known them today have been in place since year 864. The area is a popular getaway spot, thanks to its views and proximity to Tokyo. I'm here with my family for the weekend.
About an hour’s drive inland is AQ’s new house in the mountains. (AQ is an independent ten-person design studio in Tokyo and Paris. I’ve been with the company since 2009, and a partner since 2014.)
Here are my notes from a June 2021 workshop that I ran to start a conversation about evolving our Tokyo office. I'd gone into it with a vague idea of modular project rooms or a clubhouse-like space to share with our network.
What emerged was the undeniable kernel for what became this house in the mountains:
A safe harbor where I/we can relax, re-charge and quietly expand the imagination
For my daily efforts to be seen and recognized by my peers, and to celebrate together the challenges that we’ve overcome
For the space to have flow, as a natural extension of how we strive for our teams to be. Come and go as you please, access to resources, no permission required
What can be found in the space: beautiful things, green things, things I can't have as an individual, things we made together
Keywords: Oasis, sanctuary, hearth, identity, summit, landmark, safe harbor, gallery
In other words, not an office.
I was miffed at first by the "lack" of vision for our beloved Tokyo space. Didn't the team know how expensive it was, how much work we'd put into it? But doh, time to switch gears. We built a new narrative and I poured my energy into making this something else happen. In the next few weeks, I get to join the team to work on the house and daydream about new futures.
As companies solidify their adoption strategies for remote work, I wish for more stories that aren’t from big tech companies or indie nomads. The mental model for the office is rooted deep. It takes courage to make moves that aren't reactive.
With that in mind, I took the opportunity to tell some of AQ's stories about “designing space and time in the age of remote work” on the LeanCast podcast.
Check it out on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. If you listen to it, let me know what you thought. Or better yet, share your own stories!
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It feels fitting to think about spaces, as many of us operate in different modes in different places across the summer months.
Where are you now, and where do you wish to be in the coming months?
Tomomi
A jet-lagged 4am view of Lake Kawaguchi.