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direction. "Our goal is to design spaces
that are both unexpected and comfort-
able, incorporating the modern luxuries
that guests have come to expect."
In so doing, the duo is not only curating
fastiously assembled, regionally sympa-
thetic spaces, but performing a great
cultural service to Japan's historical capi-
tal, as well, helping preserve its much-ad-
mired machiya, which continues to be at
alarming risk for indiscriminate tear down
in lieu of more efficient structures. Marked
by narrow fronts and deep interiors, tatami
mat floors, sliding shoji screen doors and
exposed wood beams, the vernacular
is seen throughout Japan but is closely
identified with Kyoto, a city with deep ties
ut with the old, in with the new?
Not so fast, and not quite. Maana
Homes, an independent hospitality
brand co-founded by friends and
fellow creatives Irene Chang and
Hana Tsukamoto, is elevating
boutique luxury by creating refined and
calming environments inside historic
machiya townhouses constructed
with traditional Japanese carpentry
techniques, which is why, once leveled,
they are never rebuilt. Of these age-old
wooden structures, Maana Kyoto is an
especially soulful space, a hybrid of a
holistic ethos and aesthetics reflecting the
culture of simplicity that defines national
life in Japan.
"Maana Homes is a brand created to
inspire minds," Chang says of the hospi-
tality product to which she brings years
of hotel design experience while her
co-founder Tsukamoto helms its creative
26 DIGS.NET
| 5.19.23
