Fumihiko Sano Studio

For jury member Hiba Alobaydi, managing editor at Archello, Fumihiko Sano Studio ticked all the boxes for Emerging Designer of the Year. ‘The studio demonstrates innovation, functionality, creativity and sustainability in spades,’ she said, admiring its ‘unwavering sense of integrity in the face of design challenges’. The eponymous Japanese studio was founded in 2011 by Fumihiko Sano, who began his career at Nakamura Souji Komuten in Kyoto as an apprentice of sukiya carpentry – a traditional craft passed down through generations. Throughout his portfolio – whose strong focus on hospitality is interspersed with the likes of residential, retail and installation projects – Sano bridges Japan’s past and present, reinvigorating extinct or endangered traditions. Alobaydi commended this approach. ‘The studio demonstrates a reverence for the past,’ she said, pointing to Tokiwa restaurant, whose design is based on a Japanese tea ceremony room, ‘as well as a rapturous sense of originality,’ using the Yakabei Tunnel Hotel as an example of the latter. Hosted in a soonto-be-opened tunnel, the temporary hotel and restaurant celebrated local materials and produce. This local approach extends to everything Fumihiko Sano Studio does, a factor that scored extra points with the jury. fumihikosano.jp