Cosmetics and coffee combine in Officine Universelle Buly’s new Kobe, Japan store

Officine Universelle Buly’s Kobe, Japan store transforms an inconspicuous green building into a wunderkammer filled with cosmetic curios and sweet treats. 

The French beauty brand started as a 19th-century pharmacy and has transformed over the centuries into a beloved outlet for beautifully packaged curios like volcanic stone from Sicily used to remove calluses, precious perfume vials from the oldest porcelain manufacturer in Japan, Brazilian Tucuma seed oil for preserving your tan, and more. 

Officine Universelle Buly in Kobe, Japan

The brand’s stores are as diverse as their product offerings with outlets around the world that, in the words of Buly’s creative director, Ramdane Touhami, 'takes into account the specificity of the cities and regions in which the brand is located.’ 

‘Following this path anchors the Officine Universelle Buly in people's consciousness,’ Touhami told us last year. 'If we set up in Toulouse or a certain district of Tokyo, it seems pragmatic to me to use red brick, like that found in the city. If I go to London, I will incorporate Victorian [influences]. Art deco in New York. Globalised stores as we know them should take into account this element of regional decor in their international strategies.’

The new Kobe store is in keeping with this ethos, but it also features a first for the brand – a cafe. Serving up coffees and French pastries, the cafe sits next door to the Buly store, which is crafted entirely – from floor to ceiling – with lacquered, chocolate-coloured wood and red and white marble inspired by the Japanese city’s famous beef. 

‘Another stupid idea that goes through my head,’ says Touhami about designing the store. ’A store covered in lacquered wood that looks like melted chocolate, along with Dali-inspired melting lamps, and, as the store is in Kobe, I had to find a marble that looks like Kobe beef.’ 

But one look at the store’s interiors proves that it was not stupid idea at all. Rather, it is a charming escape from the bustle of the city where you can treat yourself to some luxurious Mexican Tuberose body oil or decadent cake. 

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