Text description provided by the architects. A reserved restaurant has opened in a remote residential area in Yoyogi. It is located where there was a small café and grocery store “Farmmart & Friends” that we had previously designed. In a newly rented corner of the room was a small, special place where strangers could sit next to each other and enjoy a meal.
The name is “Cimi Restorant”. “Cimi (or Jimi)” implies the quality and productivity of the country in Japanese. The restaurant project aims to think about food and share them that contribute to the health of people and earth. In addition to the vegan menu, guests can choose from courses with ingredients such as venison and oysters that contribute to solving environmental problems in Japan. The aim is to create a place where people with different dining styles can come together and share a meal. The restaurant should bring people with different backgrounds and ideas together and enable them to have spontaneous conversations.
The table where people sit side by side consists of a red cedar protocol, which was originally cut from two twisted trees that are merged into one. It was cut into slices and the three stumps were used as legs, with five thinner log discs used as a table top and one leg space underneath. In addition, four rounds of concave and convex forms form on the edges, and the convex forms are easy to form groups. At first people would keep people to themselves, but soon they hear the people's voices next to them and talk about common topics and share the same room with others. At the end of the food, a large circle of people would form and everyone would talk.
At first, this red cedar was something that could be preserved quickly. Because it was not the standards, it was resting in Shinkiba. However, even these non-standard materials for individual sales are made available in the Internet age and now see the light of the day. Monosus, the then business owner of Cimi, took this opportunity and organized the “Wood Stock Yard” project to sell part of Totestock in collaboration with Takahiro Lumber Totes and looked for buyers. With the introduction of this restaurant project, a proper game between the supplier and the buyer was carried out, which led to the creation of a restaurant in which people gather around a large table.
