100% Chocolate Cafe, Tokyo

Tokyo's newest landmark, the Tokyo Sky Tree, is the new home to a sweet little shop called 100% Chocolate Cafe. The creatives at Japanese based design firm Wonderwall are responsible for dreaming up the contemporary chocolate kitchen which features an in-store goods shop, an exterior walk-up take out counter, and a dining area for cocoa connoisseurs to sit down and taste.

The shop walls are lines with polished white tiles which extend up towards a ceiling filled with faux chocolate nuggets constructed of dark wood panels. The café features a grand open kitchen where visitors can watch the process of sweets being made through a display of glazed boxes containing ingredients of 56 different types of chocolate.

The dining room tables are outfitted with marble and paired with chestnut steel chairs, while creamy Lucite lights poke out from the table top.

Principal architect Masamichi Katayama allowed graphics to become a strong component in the design to stay in suit with 100% Chocolate's brand. The chocolates are sold in small, colorful square packages - each chocolate is designated with a number.

Katayama featured the chocolates in the retail portion of the shop as a colorful display wall where patrons can approach the wall to choose their chocolate bar.

The graphics also become an important element to the design at the sample bar, where brown trays with large numbers are filled with their coordinating chocolates.

The walk-by chocolate counter on the outside of the shop is perhaps the most clever characteristic to the establishment. The pale blue counter allows for people passing by to grab some sweets on the go!

Photography:  Wonderwall