Outerwear label Tatras, which takes its name from a snow-peaked stretch of mountains between Slovakia and Poland, was born between continents. Founded by Japanese designer Sakao Masanaka in Milan, Italy in 2007, it describes its approach as combining ‘Japanese innovation and Italian craftsmanship’ across its expansive cold-weather wardrobe (though remains best-known for its signature goose-down padded jackets).
And, while Tatras remains relatively anonymous in Europe, the label looks set to be in the midst of a creative evolution – this month, it marks a new collaboration with the multidisciplinary Italian artist Giovanni Leonardo Bassan, heralding the launch of an expansive new store in Ginza, Tokyo.
Inside Tatras’ new outpost in Ginza, Tokyo
A protégé of Michèle Lamy and a longtime collaborator with Rick Owens (he has been head of furniture at the label since 2018), Bassan has created a special MA1 bomber jacket for the brand, which reverses to reveal one of his artworks – an oil painting of bodies intertwined (a special technique has been used to replicate the original texture). With sustainability in mind, it is crafted from a blend of wool and Spiber's Brewed Protein™, a low-environmental-impact material made through fermentation.
‘[The] first time wearing one of my paintings,’ read the caption of a recent Instagram post by Bassan, showing the artist in the jacket amid some of his monolithic furniture designs.
The store itself, which is located in the upscale Ginza neighbourhood, is an expansive, multi-level space which is largely based around the idea of ‘beauty in contrast’ (it is a brand mantra which emerges from the label’s Japan-meets-Italy codes). As such, the airy spaces combine natural elements – like smooth stone and wooden furnishings – with sleek concrete and stainless steel. ‘The design is inspired by the fusion of Italian and Japanese influences that define Tatras,’ the brand describes.
The store will also act like something of a rolling gallery space, featuring both local artists and those from further afield. For the opening, ceramics by Asahiyaki, a traditional pottery producer based in the Uji region of Kyoto Prefecture, are interspersed throughout, placed in conversation with Tatras’ distinctly shaped puffer jackets. The aim of such ‘installations’, says Tatras, is to recall contemporary sculpture.
Tatras Ginza, V88 Building, 2-chōme-5-11 Ginza, Chuo City, Tokyo 104-0061, Japan.
