Sunday, 6 April 2008 | Levent OZLER
CROSS: Corporate and Interior Design by Design Bureau Colin Schaelli
 Cross consists of two diagonal dashes. One reaching from the bottom left to the upper right - the other from top left to the bottom right.
Harajuku is famous for its shopping mile where Chanel, Dior and Bvlgari welcome you. Following this trend are the so-called Harajuku-Kids who, opposite to the richer Omote-Sando clientele, hang out in the side alleys and try to get a hold of the up-to-date fashion to present themselves as victims of the very same.
In this variegated environment, right behind the Gyre-Building of MVRDV at the crossroads to Starbucks, you will find the small building of Hisashi Kanke. There, he has been operating a Hair & Barber Salon for ten years.
The small structure is paved with flagstones, creating a discreet and congenial atmosphere. Maybe MVRDV was inspired by exactly this construction in their "backyard" when they decided on their own paneled façade.
 Design Bureau Colin Schaelli's goal was to respect the discretion of the architectural style in the creation of the shop's inner life and to set a contrast to the hustle and bustle of the surrounding alleys - since the exterior affects the interior. Therefore, the client finds himself in a room which is not littered with all the sensory stimuli of Harajuku, allowing him to quietly observe the colorful action outside while having his or her hair cut and styled by cross - with the inside affecting one's perception of the outside while also deflecting some of the outside. This is achieved with double sided mirror bars which let the outside viewer only see the lower body of the client and the upper torso of the hair stylist - separated by the mirrored image of Harajuku's sky crossed with power lines and poles. This image additionally merges with the lines of the openly laid out black electric cables of the interior.
The whole interior was kept in plain white. Only some movable furniture and the illumination set some sparse black accents which appear like the transistors on a power supply line. The entire furniture was made in Switzerland and transported by plane to Japan - showing Hisashi's determination in becoming the owner of one of the finest shops. Visiting cross you will be convinced that hair matters.
Hair matters is the claim of the salon. A cross builds the logo - just as in the middle of the crossroads outside the shop.
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