MAJA HOTEL KYOTO, a capsule hotel designed by product designer Harri Koskinen, will open in the Kawaramachi area of central Kyoto in late December. The first floor will house the Finnish cafe CAFE AALTO, marking its first international expansion.

Standard Size Hut
©HARRI KOSKINEN / FRIENDS OF INDUSTRY LTD.
Harri Koskinen is one of the most important designers in the world today, having won numerous prestigious design awards such as the Compasso d'Oro and the Kaj Franck Design Award, and has designed for a variety of brands and labels, including iittala and artek. His most notable work is the "Block Lamp," which appears to encase a light bulb in glass and is exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, and it was his design that brought him global recognition.

Harri readily accepted the offer to create a "capsule hotel designed by a product designer." His minimalist and functional design approach transforms a capsule, originally intended only as a space for sleeping, into a chemical reaction.

©HARRI KOSKINEN / FRIENDS OF INDUSTRY LTD.
The capsules, "Hut," come in two sizes, large and small, and feature a distinctive triangular roof reminiscent of a house, with original interior details including lights, switches, and textiles. The exterior is designed to harmonize with Kyoto's traditional machiya townhouses. Reservations are scheduled to begin in mid-October. Further details will be announced on the hotel's website (www.maja-hotel.com) and on Instagram (@maja_hotel_kyoto).

Café Aalto
Also, in the shared space on the first floor, Café Aalto, the café located inside Academia Bookstore in Helsinki, Finland, designed by Finland's leading architect Alvar Aalto, has arrived in Japan for the first time. You can enjoy Finnish-style breakfasts, traditional salmon soup, blueberry pie with a cheesecake base, moist cinnamon rolls with a subtle sweetness, as well as coffee and alcohol.