Takuro Nakaya (shirokuma and company)
Poppy Lounge
Firm LocationNagoya, Japan
Companyshirokuma and company
Lead ArchitectTakuro Nakaya
ClientBEANS BITOU
Poppy Lounge is a café-bar on the third floor of an aging building in Nagoya. Designed as a modern-day “談話室” — a quiet lounge for conversation — it evokes the quiet drama of time’s passage. At its center is a 3-meter table repurposed from a 100-year-old kamoi beam, bearing grooves from sliding doors. Handcrafted FRP pendant lights and stools lend organic softness. The walls shimmer with over 300 hammered copper tiles, 0.3mm thick, applied by hand using the traditional uroko-bari (scale tiling) technique. The space becomes a modest, layered stage for everyday dialogue.