“We want our customers to be able to say, ‘This is where I feel the most relaxed’”. This is the reason Restaurant Manager Takuya Sato gave for choosing Atmoph Window for their restaurant interior, which is elegantly designed down to the last intimate detail, from the wall features to the serving plates.

Q. Please let us know what made you decide to choose Atmoph Window?

* Previously, Takuya Sato collaborated with Atmoph Window when designing an Icelandic theme for another of his venues, ‘CAFE RANDY’ in Roppongi (which closed in May 2018).
* See the post from November 16th, 2017 “From Roppongi to the Stunning Landscape of Iceland. CAFE RANDY turns Icelandic with Atmoph Window digital windows” (Only available in Japanese text.) A. One reason is because the customers loved it. But the biggest reason is because of the sheer beauty of the moving images. It was much more amazing than I had imagined. We had been approached with similar ideas before, but it was the cutting edge technology used by Atmoph Window that convinced me to go ahead. At towershita, I decided I wanted to install the monitors so all the cabling was hidden inside the walls, to get the true sense that it was exactly like a window.

The walls of towershita were specially rendered by Hasado Syuhei, a renderer from Hida Takayama. When you think of rendering maybe it just seems like smoothing out a color onto a wall, but in the case of Hasado Syuhei, rendering is turned into a pure art-form, and his work has been recognized by world renowned architects. ‘Clay’ is just one of those things we have always taken for granted, it is so analog, no? So when people see his work, they become really grounded, like the earth. It’s not artificial, made with chemicals, it’s just natural, and therefore really fits in with towershita. I thought, that it would be really interesting to then bring into the mix a pure contrast, with the cutting edge technology of Atmoph Window.

This is what Hadaso Syuhei said, that the wall over there next to the tables is earthy and relaxing, and the wall here where the private rooms are has more of an electrifying and tense feel to it. I have seen a lot of his work, and all of it has this kind of ‘relax versus tense’ feel. Its the contrast that is so interesting. When I was thinking about the restaurant’s interior, I thought it would be great to use all natural materials, at the same time we are in the middle of Tokyo, we could also grab customers’ attention with something new and edgy, like Atmoph Window. The contrast between analog and digital, thats what really drew me.

In this sense, there is a huge divergence just within this one room, that is what is so exciting. The personality of the people that make up a restaurant comes out in some way in the interior. Particularly I have been doing this for thirteen years, how the tables are set out, up to the minute details, my personality comes out one hundred percent. If you are concerned too much about the materials, you become too one-sided. Rather than it just being general, I wanted to also touch on what makes up our age, now, that we live in, and that is technology. But then if that comes out too much, it also can make a space too sterile. I think with Atmoph Window we got the right balance, especially with the Panorama views.

Technology that quickly draws your attention, set amongst all the natural materials. For a contemporary space, it seems really apt. I always say, that analog, natural materials, are often rugged, right? Like natural woods, they’re solid and heavy, hard to clean, and absorb water. Then you get artificial wood grain patterned materials, that are light, convenient, plastic, smooth. I refer to this as ‘rugged’ versus ‘smooth’. People don’t want to be surrounded just with things that are ‘smooth’ though. It is the ‘rugged’ things, handmade things, that give us a sense of security. The Atmoph screen, looked at in this way, is ‘smooth’. But the people that make it, they are ‘rugged’. From inside the smoothness, you can see the ruggedness, that is so interesting. When you look at the moving images, maybe it seems really digitalized, but I also see in that a kind of ruggedness. Just thinking about for instance what it takes to go out into those places, to take the footage, is completely analog, time consuming. It’s ‘rugged’.

This is the reason I included Atmoph. People really are calmed by nature’s ‘ruggedness’. I most want to hear from our customers, “This is where I feel the most relaxed”. The space is so important. Because if it’s not a relaxing atmosphere, they will leave without ordering desert.

Each person has their own tastes, but for me it is the compatibility of Atmoph with this kind of a relaxed atmosphere, that is so great.

Q. What was the reaction of the customers, after you installed Atmoph?

A. Oh there was a huge reaction. Like when people thought it was a still image, and then would exclaim ‘Oh wow, it’s moving!’. How many times in a week did I have to explain about the Atmoph Window?! Ha. Actually there was one person who had purchased your Single views, when they saw our Panorama views they said “Oh, I am going to have to get that next”!

Many of our customers have great taste, so once we purchased the Panorama, the response increased enormously.

Q. Which scenes do you like?

A. We have a lot of nighttime scenes, to match with the restaurant’s atmosphere. I like the scenes of fireworks, the Eiffel Tower, flowing water, so I am taken with the scenes of Dawn at Giudecca.

You can actually see the nightscape of Tokyo Tower in real life, from our windows, so having Tokyo Tower on one side and the Eiffel Tower on the other, it truly is the best!

Q. What kind of scenes would you like to include in the future?

A. I like the scenes that move. The idea is a window, so the more there is life in the scenes, the more it moves, the more the customers are taken aback, I think.

Q. Is there any new functions that you would like included?

A. It would be great if there was a random play option for the Panorama. When the restaurant is open, we get really busy, so it would be great if we could change over the scenes we like every thirty minutes with a timer on automatic play. At the moment I do it manually, but it doesn’t look really nice when the Menu file shows up on-screen.

Apart from that, I am totally happy. I am really pleased that we chose the Panorama.

As of February 2022, random playback has been implemented in Atmoph Window 2 Auto function.