Romanticism is a women’s clothing brand with about 500 stores in China. Japanese architects Keiichiro Sako and Takeshi Ishizaka of SAKO Architects, have now designed a few locations for the brand in the city of Hangzhou.

See and read more at CONTEMPORIST.

I found about it in the Michael’s Lieberman blog and it must be the coolest bookstore for kids in the planet.

Kid’s Republic is in Beijing, opened in 2005, and it was designed by Japanese architect Keiichiro Sako. It is stocked with picture books from all over the world and has an activity room that hosts storytelling events and anime screenings. Τhe is another one, Kid’s Republic also designed by Sako, in Shanghai.

On the design, via Luxurylaunchs.com:

36-year-old Japanese architect Keiichiro Sako’s design for children’s bookstore Kid’s Republic gives full play to the innocence, fun and inquisitiveness of the young, conjuring up images of childhood that are sure to enchant anyone walking through the doors. Twelve bands of color weave their way around the activity room to create a rainbow-like décor for a space used for storytelling and anime screenings.

Recesses in walls and ceiling accommodate light fittings and displays, and the stepped floor forms a natural stage and auditorium. The carpet provides a comfortable surface that invites children to sit or sprawl wherever takes their fancy. A ribbon of rainbow colors starts at the bottom of the stairs next to the entrance and winds its way up to the floor above, metamorphosing into various objects along the way. Functioning in places as bookshelf, table and gates, it twists and twirls to form counters and even ceiling parts, traveling a hundred meters before finally turning into a backdrop for the handrail that leads back down the stairwell to where it all began.

Kids should have a great time in this place!

While gratuity and decadence are the name of the game at this Romantizism shop in Hangzhou, it is an impressive sight nevertheless…Designed by Keiichiro Sako. Perty…

(Thanks to the LV D)