The sweltering heat of the summer sun is beating down mercilessly on every reinforced concrete building in the city. While we try to take comfort in 28 degrees Celsius coolness from the air conditioning (all the while wishing we could cut down this part of our carbon footprint), I sometimes fantasize about getting rid of the air conditioner altogether and hanging wooden ceiling fans powered by solar energy, putting large potted plants everywhere and decorating the entire office floor in the South East Asian resort style. As in Bali resort villa elegance.
Well, end of fantasy. To experience a bit of the Bali resort feel without leaving the country, I like to head to one of my favorite interior shops in Yokohama, the Loop Minatomirai.
Specializing in Asian furniture and accessories, the shop’s floor space is far from being IKEA-huge. But I love how every inch of it is filled with beautiful teak furniture, bamboo lighting fixtures, sandstone sculptures, batik fabrics, and traditional Balinese art.
The shop has a friendly staff, unobstrusive but always ready to give helpful advice. There’s a small sandstone fountain at the entrance of the shop, and the gentle sound of cascading water I find comforting after hours of battling it out in the concrete jungle.
Loop Minatomirai is on the 6th floor of the Yokohama World Porters shopping mall, about a 10-minute walk from Sakuragicho station on the Keihin Tohoku line.
Related Link
Artistic Lobby: AYANA Resort & Spa – About the hotel’s lobby that art lovers will love.
External Links
Loop Minato-mirai – The shop’s official website.
AYANA Resort and Spa Bali – The hotel’s official website.
Books to Consider
Is teak better material than mahogany for furniture?
The shop looks quite crowded but I guess that’s how it has to be when space is at a premium.
Mahogany is mostly used for fine furniture. As you know, it has a gorgeous, dark reddish-brown sheen when polished. It is also expensive (so it’s sometimes used just as a veneer). Teak furniture is generally more affordable, though perhaps somewhat lacking mahogany’s exquisite beauty. While both hardwoods are durable and workable, teak is the obvious choice for outdoor furniture.
As for availability, African mahogany is endangered, and Latin American ones are threatened/overexploited. Some teak in Southeast Asia are said to be overexploited, but Indonesian (Javanese) ones are considered sustainable. The Loop group claim they only use certified farms to provide them with wood. (I am all for forest sustainability, though monocultures are not really contributing to ecological diversity. Yet, better than indiscriminate logging of tropical rainforests.)
Yes, the Loop shop is pretty crowded with lots of nice stuff. 🙂
Wow! It is a shop where I can almost hear the Gamelan music.
You know, they were actually playing gamelan music. 🙂 And selling CDs of them as well.