OTOTO

2022

Ototo (“little brother” in Japanese) is a firststore/grocery/market in Bucharest selling only independent brands, from foodand care products to books and sustainable lifestyle items, including a Freitagpop-up.

Ototo on Calea Victoriei is the bigger brother out of thethree brand’s stores and marks the growth from a grocery shop into a lovedlifestyle brand. It is a three floors flagship store. 

The “installation” of shelves is made in plywood of smallsection such assembled to gain maximum strength on the smallest section. Thesection as well as the assembling convey a Japanese type of structure, coherentto the name and values of the brand. The same type of section solves flexiblythe needs of supporting the signage, the coat-hangers, the lighting system, fansand cable management but also the balustrade, mirror frames, handrail and barstructure and also two plywood replicas of Rietveld’s Blaue chair.

The space is in a Communist period building characterizedby bad finishing and irregularities. It is also a cost-effective solution tobring unity and coherence to the otherwise irregular architecture that remainsin the background.

Central to the beauty and skin care room is anotherinstallation which is a sink for testing products but mostly doubles as asculptural water feature as in proper urban public spaces, making peoplerevolve around it in their way to the next spaces. Its playful anthropomorphic,cactus or octopus shape of metal bend pipes has a round mirror instead of a headand “hands” to offer the testing products, soap and towels.

Similarly, the first room in the sustainable lifestylesection has a consistent coffee bar in the middle which acts also as pay point,exhibitor and social aggregator for a community sharing the same values andrelaxing near the library section.

 

Team: Corvin Cristian, Alina Stoica, Adrian Oancea, Vlad Hani