Project
For the launch of the and wander x ZARA winter collection in Tokyo, Profirst Creative Studio conceived an immersive spatial experience within the ZARA Ginza flagship, transforming a commercial retail floor into a contemplative landscape where fashion, contemporary art, and nature converge.
Innovation
Rather than designing a conventional pop-up with standard fixtures and branded signage, the creative team invited Japanese artist Akihito Okunaka, renowned for his monumental inflatable sculptures exploring the relationship between nature, society, and human perception, to create a site-specific installation titled Inter-world / Atmospheric Current: Flower Tube. This marks one of the first instances where a large-scale contemporary art installation has been used as the primary spatial device for a fashion retail activation, dissolving the boundary between gallery experience and commercial space. Okunaka’s philosophical framework, rooted in Bruno Latour’s thinking on the interplay between nature and society, was brought into a retail environment, challenging how product is presented and discovered.
Form
The installation centers on a monumental inflatable tube structure made of translucent membrane, within which hundreds of fresh flowers (wildflowers, roses, delphiniums, hydrangeas) are suspended, creating a living organic layer visible through the ethereal skin. The billowing, cloud-like forms cascade through the space, generating a soft topography that visitors navigate around and through. Light filters and diffuses through the material, producing shifting chromatic effects throughout the day. The contrast between the soft pneumatic volumes and the rigid architecture of the Ginza store creates a powerful spatial tension, the installation appears to breathe within its container.
Functionality
The pop-up was conceived as a journey rather than a transaction. Visitors were immediately drawn into the installation before encountering the collection. The and wander x ZARA garments (winter outerwear, fleeces, accessories) were integrated along the periphery, allowing the installation to function as both wayfinding device and emotional catalyst. The spatial layout encouraged slow, exploratory movement, increasing dwell time and deepening engagement with the brand narrative of reconnecting people with the outdoor world.
Eco-Social Impact
Air as the primary structural medium embodies a radical material economy: inflatable structures require minimal material for maximum spatial impact, and can be deflated, transported, and reinstalled with a fraction of the footprint of traditional builds. Fresh flowers connect directly to and wander’s philosophy of bridging urban consumers with nature. The collaboration elevated Akihito Okunaka’s practice, rooted in community engagement and participatory art across Japan, to an international retail stage, demonstrating how commercial brands can invest in independent contemporary art.
