Okamura Singapore Showroom Opens Its Door

Since its founding in 1945, Okamura has provided high-quality products and services for offices, education, healthcare, R&D, commercial facilities and distribution centers under the motto “Quality pays for itself.” Hence it is no wonder the Japanese brand bagged not one but four Red Dot Design Awards in 2020, fittingly to mark its 75-year anniversary in glorious fashion.

In this same year, Okamura opens its flagship showroom in Singapore. The 4,800 square feet dual level space at 137 Cecil Street goes beyond its size constraint to take on multiple functions. More than just a showcase of their primo products, the repository pod welcomes anyone to rest, work and experience. In a bid to break away from the brand’s conservative mould, the Okamura Singapore team has taken an unexampled approach to yield human interplays and innovations through bold installations and interactive spaces. As mentioned by Shawn Eng, Regional Business Development Director APAC at Okamura, “It is important for individuals to innovate collaboration in today’s digital world where a lack of human interaction is evident.”

Greeting every walk-in patron across the entrance of the showroom, is a gigantic 7-metre vending machine housing award-winning Okamura products. This concept is an ingenious take to optimise the space vertically thereby allowing patrons to have access to the products in an interactive manner. With Japan being the undisputed home of vending machines, this state-of-the-art automat breathes the very essence of Japanese culture in the showroom.

A two-tiered seating made of cork material runs along the peripheral walls beside the vending machine with various open concept working desks sprouting across the room and a partitioned meeting room. This central arena which is designed to facilitate interactions can be booked for stipulated presentations, seminars and networking events. Other days, the dynamic space could make great co-working spaces for professionals and even design students to band for projects or common discourse.

The Okamura Singapore team resides at the office space on the second storey. Contrary to usual practices of privacy and confidentiality, Okamura Singapore took a bold spin to open up the office space to the public as part of the showroom experience to allow patrons to understand how Okamura’s designs will look in an actual office setting; both as a whole for larger work spaces and in individual work satellites for smaller offices. The office is fitted with Okamura’s smart office systems with seamless cable management alongside their iconic office chairs. The casual walkthrough would bring about more human interplay between patrons and Okamura’s team, re-emphasizing what and why the new showroom space is all about and created for.