Japanese lifestyle shop Beams turns spotlight on designers from home

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      The first thing you need to know about Japanese lifestyle label Beams is that it’s not a label. “Beams is not a designer brand,” stresses the company’s president, Yo Shitara, during an interview with the Straight at the Fairmont Pacific Rim. “We simply curate what we think are the best designers, styles, and products.”

      In Japan, this sort of cull-and-sell model is classified as a “select shop”. But to better understand Beams’ inner workings, it’s worth examining the meaning behind its five-letter moniker, which, according to Shitara, is threefold.

      First, beams indicates the retailer’s desire to shine a light on the “good, small things” that have yet to be appreciated by the public. Second, it denotes a need to support emerging craftspeople, artists, and designers much in the way that a wood beam props up the roof or floor of a house. And finally, in its primary interpretation, the word signifies a bright, radiant smile—perhaps as a result of the two aforementioned items.

      “We wanted to build a company, a culture, where we kind of support one another,” explains Shitara, speaking in Japanese through a translator, “where we join the craftsmen with the people so that customers may enjoy what they make.”

      It’s a strategy that has propelled Beams to retail stardom in Japan, earning the street-style-savvy biz and its dozens of concept stores—which carry everything from art, vinyl records, and homewares to men’s, women’s, and kids’ clothing—a reputation as the nation’s undisputed arbiter of all things cool and undiscovered.

      In fact, Beams was the first boutique to bring American athletic giant Nike to Japan during the ’70s. The move proved extremely successful, familiarizing countless sneakerheads across the Pacific with the brand and creating a demand for the product that remains decades later. Designer names like Paul Smith, Marni, and Pinky & Dianne followed a similar trajectory shortly afterward.

      “Believe it or not, we used to think it was [pronounced] ‘nee-kay’,” Shitara says with a laugh. “There was just no information about it anywhere at the time.”

      Lucy Lau

      Since then, Beams has earned eminence for its high-wattage collaborations with various North American and European labels, including Reebok, Anti-Social Social Club, and Vancouver’s own Arc’teryx and Herschel Supply Co. Rather than completely new products, the results of the partnerships are typically well-known items that have been tweaked slightly or, as Shitara puts it, “sprinkled with a little bit of happiness”.

      One of Beams’ first collabs was with London-based shoemaker Church’s, for example, and consisted of simply swapping out the company’s signature brown suede for a black hue in one of its loafer styles. “That’s usually how it works,” notes Shitara. “We have an idea, we ask them if we can do it, and, if they think it’s new and fresh and they’re interested in doing something innovative, they usually say yes.”

      It’s a gutsy approach for a retailer that began as a 69-square-foot corner store inspired by the image of a college-dorm room. Threads from all-American brands like Levi’s and Brooks Brothers were what first lined the racks—an answer to the apparel Shitara saw adolescents sporting in Disney films and U.S. dramas when televisions became commonplace in Japan in the 1950s.

      In celebration of its 40th anniversary, Beams debuted its newest concept shop, Beams Japan, in 2016. The launch turned Beams’ signature shtick on its head: rather than stocking up-and-coming designers from North America and Europe, Beams Japan shows off an evolving roster of artisans who hail from home. “After all these years of introducing the best from around the world to Japan, we wanted to introduce Japan to the world,” Shitara says.

      While the opening of an eight-level flagship in Tokyo’s busiest shopping district is acquainting locals and tourists alike with the country’s most noteworthy talents, a Beams Japan pop-up store in Vancouver is giving Canadians a taste of Japanese culture as well.

      There, Vancouverites will find items like stainless-steel sake cups, traditional folding fans, and geta sandals equipped with cushy Birkenstock soles, plus collaborations with leading street-style icons such as Tailor Toyo and Loopwheeler, as part of Westbank and Peterson’s Japan Unlayered exhibition. A special coffee-table book, Beams: Beyond Tokyo, featuring some of Beams’ most memorable partnerships, is also available.

      “There’s always something beautiful that comes out of these encounters,” Shitara says of the pop-up’s first landing on Canadian soil. “I hope that Beams will continue to connect craftsmanship and culture to produce something extraordinary.”

      The Beams Japan pop-up shop runs at the Fairmont Pacific Rim, inside the giovane café + eatery + market, until February 28.

      Follow Lucy Lau on Twitter @lucylau.

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