The List: Our Editors’ Guide to Design-Focused Destinations and Products in March and Beyond

The monthly briefing from Design Anthology’s editors on the most interesting things to see, places to go and products to know

Azuma Farm Koiwai
Hotel
Shizukuishi, Japan

Opening next month, Azuma Farm Koiwai is a boutique retreat in Iwate Prefecture developed through a collaboration between East Japan Railway Company and Azumi Japan, the brand co-founded by hotelier Adrian Zecha. Situated on an eight-hectare site within the historic 3,000-hectare Koiwai Farm, the property is designed to frame views of Mount Iwate and its surrounding forests. The retreat reinterprets the traditional ryokan for a mountain setting, and architecture integrates with the pastures to foster a direct connection with the land. The result is a quiet rural escape focused on regional craft and the rhythms of the seasons.

Pillar
Store
Jakarta

Pillar’s newly relocated boutique in Plaza Indonesia serves as a clean, versatile canvas for fashion and art. Designed by architecture firm Fffaaarrr, the space creatively reinterprets iconic elements from its original location. Familiar blue marble counter tables have been repurposed into display cases and pedestals, while the former steel-plated hallway is now an immersive, cylindrical fitting room. Minimalist lighting continues to illuminate the store, complementing the original furniture. The boutique also functions as an art destination, featuring a rotating selection of artworks.

Maxi Coffee Bar
Cafe
Singapore

Now located just up the road in Club Street, the new iteration of Maxi Coffee Bar is a more refined cafe designed by Plan O Studio. The interior blends warm timber with a signature deep blue and terracotta palette, accented by matt brass details and textural elements like kit kat tiles at the filter bar and grounded travertine floors. A striking blue velvet curtain elegantly encloses the storage areas, integrating custom spherical lights reminiscent of the original shop. A curved terracotta floor pattern thoughtfully connects the espresso bar and filter bar, softening the narrow transitional space.

Studio Nicholson × Échapper
Collection
Tokyo

London-based Studio Nicholson and Japanese lifestyle brand Échapper have collaborated on a refined capsule collection dedicated to elevating domestic rituals, and marking the opening of the former’s new store in Kyoto. Crafted in specialist factories in Tokyo and Osaka, the garments undergo a natural botanical dyeing process utilising Japanese logwood. The collection features a Karst shirt and Hera pant made from navy silk, dyed in their finished garment form to preserve the yarn’s relaxed state and minimise creasing. A French flax yarn linen gown provides a dry hand feel with a compact structure, while house shoes crafted from supple goat leather and cowhide complete the wardrobe.

LB’s Record Bar
Bar
Melbourne

Merivale’s inaugural Melbourne venue, LB’s Record Bar, offers a retro-futuristic listening space designed by their in-house team. The venue’s street presence is marked by verdant mosaic tiling, complemented by mushroom-shaped lighting and bright vermillion stools. At the centre of the interior sits a restored horseshoe bar, surfaced in timber and terrazzo. Acoustics drive the aesthetic, with handcrafted speakers finished in walnut veneer and walls clad in rows of vinyl records. Scarlet carpets and tactile upholstery reinforce a subterranean, soil-toned atmosphere. Overhead, a geometric framework supports mirror balls and pink strip-lighting, blending mid-century warmth with a rhythmic, contemporary geometry.

Oaken Lab Incense Holder
Product
Jakarta

Jakarta-based fragrance house Oaken Lab recently introduced a carefully considered metallic incense holder as part of its Traces in Transit collection. Designed to ground space during everyday routines, this piece is formed from brushed stainless steel in a practical, flat-packed design. It’s an understated, architectural object crafted to age with the user and hold memory, ideally complemented by the brand’s incense sticks for daily aromatic rituals.