Maison Decorté: Nature Translated into a Tokyo Retail and Spa Interior

At Maison Decorté in Tokyo’s Ginza Six shopping complex, nature became a vocabulary for an interior rather than a collection of plants. Flowers, cell-like geometries, a forest canopy and crystalline forms informed the 2017 retail and spa project by Marcel Wanders. Its sequence moved from a prominent public storefront to three treatment rooms, each given a different material and lighting character.

The 2017 Maison Decorté storefront connects its sculpted retail interior to Ginza Six. Photography: Shuya Sato. Courtesy of Marcel Wanders.

The commission grew from the studio’s collaboration with Decorté, which began in 2009. For Maison Decorté, the designers brought the cosmetics brand into a setting where product display, consultation and treatment could share an overarching narrative. The official release names four themes: rejuvenation in the welcome and retail area, followed by Shield, Frozen and Calm. These names describe the design concepts used to shape the rooms.

A sculptural welcome at Ginza Six

Large bell-shaped lights announce the entrance. Their white outer surfaces and warm metallic interiors establish a combination repeated around the counter: pale sculpture against reflective gold tones. In the official photographs, the reception desk sits beneath the bells as a substantial, relief-covered object, visible from the shopping complex beyond.

Bell-shaped lights and a relief-covered counter establish the entrance composition. Photography: Shuya Sato. Courtesy of Marcel Wanders.

Behind it, the walls develop into a three-dimensional pattern inspired by flowers and skin cells. The effect is more architectural than a printed surface, with facets and folds catching light across the room. A large floral carpet brings the theme down to floor level, balancing the hard, bright surfaces with colour and a softer texture.

A dark consultation counter stands against the retail area’s pale, three-dimensional wall pattern. Photography: Shuya Sato. Courtesy of Marcel Wanders.

Retail arranged around consultation

The retail area accommodates several scales of encounter. The broad front counter establishes the initial point of contact, while the makeup area uses a long dark counter, high chairs and repeated mirrors. The contrast between the darker furnishings and the white sculptural wall makes the consultation setting clearly legible within the larger interior.

Circular floral elements and illuminated mirrors continue the room’s decorative language without relying on an identical treatment for every surface. The photographs show a sequence of places to sit, examine products and talk, with furnishings integrated into the overall composition. The design narrative therefore extends into practical retail functions as well as the entrance image.

An illuminated vanity continues the contrast between pale surfaces and dark seating. Photography: Shuya Sato. Courtesy of Marcel Wanders.

Shield: the suggestion of a forest canopy

The Shield treatment room uses a perforated, backlit ceiling to evoke light passing through a forest. The studio describes this as an interpretation of nature’s protective qualities; it is a spatial metaphor, expressed through filtered illumination and a layered overhead surface.

The room photographed in the press kit combines that ceiling with curtains, a pale treatment chair and a timber floor. These elements reduce the visual intensity of the public retail area. The ceiling remains the principal narrative feature, placing a suggestion of foliage above an otherwise restrained arrangement of furniture.

A backlit canopy gives the Shield treatment room its forest-inspired ceiling. Photography: Shuya Sato. Courtesy of Marcel Wanders.

Frozen and Calm: two different atmospheres

Frozen takes crystallisation as its starting point. Faceted walls and a branching Heracleum light fitting introduce an angular, pale environment, with reflected light contributing to the crystalline association. A white treatment chair sits within this geometry, allowing the surrounding surfaces to carry most of the room’s visual identity.

Facets and a Heracleum light express the crystalline theme of Frozen. Photography: Shuya Sato. Courtesy of Marcel Wanders.

Calm changes both the palette and the handling of light. Curving walls, warmer tones and rippling effects near the ceiling create a dimmer setting associated with water. Where Frozen is defined by facets, Calm relies on continuity and a gentler transition between wall and ceiling. The distinction gives the treatment rooms separate identities within a compact family of spaces.

Together, these environments show how a brand narrative can become a sequence of interior decisions: an oversized lamp at the entrance, a textured wall beside a counter, or a ceiling that determines the character of a room. The project’s claims about renewal are presented here as the studio’s conceptual language, rather than as measured effects of the architecture or treatments.

Calm uses warm tones, curved surfaces and water-like lighting effects as its design theme. Photography: Shuya Sato. Courtesy of Marcel Wanders.

Project information and sources

Project: Maison Decorté. Location: Ginza Six, Tokyo, Japan. Year: 2017. Client: Decorté. Interior design: Marcel Wanders. Programme: cosmetics retail, consultation and three treatment rooms. This is the 2017 Maison Decorté project, distinct from the studio’s later Decorté flagship store.

Project credit: Maison Decorté, an iconic interior by Marcel Wanders for Decorté, 2017.

Project information and archival images: Marcel Wanders’ official Maison Decorté press room and the 2017 Maison Decorté design release.