LOCATION
Takasago, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture
YEAR
Opened 2026
TYPE
Cafe / Interior fit-out
CLIENT
Nylon Coffee (Singapore)
Nylon Coffee Fukuoka is the first overseas location for Nylon Coffee, a name that has led Singapore's specialty coffee scene for years. Urbanix took on the interior design for this new store.
The site chosen was Takasago, in Fukuoka City's Chuo-ku — a neighborhood where offices, homes, and long-standing local shops sit side by side. The question at the center of this project was how to root a brand's world, built over years in Singapore, in a place like this.
We began by carefully understanding the world Nylon Coffee had built in Singapore — the choice of materials, a layout and coloring that let community and conversation happen naturally, and a design centered on a coffee bar built for focusing on high-quality coffee. Respecting the values held in every one of those details was our starting point for the design.
From there, we approached the project through research into the context and surroundings of Takasago itself. Working with the existing building's raw concrete structure, we aimed to create a new café space that could only have come from this particular place — not a franchise outpost transplanted as-is, but a single store that only makes sense here.
This unit also sits inside a newly built structure, set back from the street rather than fronting directly onto it. Because the store doesn't face the street head-on, our first challenge was making sure a passerby's line of sight could still reach all the way in, and that people could find their way to the entrance without hesitation. We kept the approach to the entrance open and unobstructed, and positioned the neon lighting at a height and location visible from the street, using light and sightlines to compensate for the setback location.
Left as it is, a newly built concrete structure tends to read as hard and cold. But what Nylon Coffee values most is the warmth of community — a place where conversation happens naturally between people. Reconciling those two seemingly opposite conditions was another central theme of this design. Rather than hiding the rawness of the structure, we kept it visible, and used material texture, light, and the placement of furniture to create a warmth that draws people to stay and talk.
A rounded counter built from glass block, lit from within, puts the act of brewing coffee at the center of the store. In the lounge beside the entrance, a terracotta-tiled bench sits alongside a second piece we call the "idobata bench," with a single potted tree planted at its center. The name comes from idobata-kaigi — literally "well-side talk" — the Japanese tradition of neighbors chatting freely around a shared well; we drew on that culture, reflecting Nylon Coffee's wish to build a new kind of community here in Japan. A neon line threads across the ceiling, set against the rawness of the concrete structure.
Sustainability is an important theme for Nylon Coffee, and the fit-out reflects that: rather than having every fixture custom-built, we deliberately brought in off-the-shelf furniture alongside newly made pieces. The seating area combines reclaimed-wood benches and fixtures cut from single slabs with ready-made furniture, choosing not to over-design every last detail. The "COFFEE" sign facing the street draws the eyes of passersby in Takasago's alleys naturally toward the store.
At Urbanix, we support store concepts from area selection and site assessment, through property search, to planning, design, and construction — start to finish. This project also brought together several in-house disciplines, from reading the neighborhood to overseeing the final design.
Starting from the concept you want to realize, we support area selection, site assessment, property search, and planning, design, and construction — start to finish. Let's begin with a conversation about your concept.
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