Interior of a stylish boutique featuring wooden walls, colorful apparel displays, and large windows letting in natural light.

Ramdane Touhami’s WSCS Concept Store in Tokyo is a Snapshot of his Creative Universe

Words by Yatzer

Tokyo, Japan

French-Moroccan designer and entrepreneur Ramdane Touhami is a man of many interests. Since launching his first streetwear brand in the 1990s, Touhami has been flexing his business acumen as much as his creative muscle across fashion, branding, and retail, revamping legacy brands, opening genre-defying concept stores, and even taking over Europe’s oldest active typographer and acquiring a historic Alpine lodge. What distinguishes him from other serial entrepreneurs is that he is driven not by spreadsheets and projections but foremost by instinct and passion.

His latest project, Words, Sounds, Colors and Shapes (WSCS), the Tokyo outpost of his Parisian concept store, encapsulates his ever-expanding creative universe as well as his enduring reverence for Japanese craft, offering an eclectic curation of fashion, music, printed matter, and bespoke design objects. Among the hundreds of store openings he has been involved with throughout his career, this project holds particular significance for Touhami. Not only is Tokyo a cherished destination, the store is situated in his most treasured corner of the city, along the Meguro River in the leafy Nakameguro district, where two of his favourite Japanese brands also reside.

A person in a black coat and red beanie sits with hands clasped, surrounded by dark green curtains in a dimly lit setting.

Portrait of Ramdane Touhami. Photography by Marsý Hild Thórsdóttir.

Image

Photography by Masaki Ogawa. © Words Sounds Colors & Shapes.

A green storefront labeled "WORDS" with an old-fashioned green vehicle parked outside, surrounded by trees and urban architecture.

Photography by Masaki Ogawa. © Words Sounds Colors & Shapes.

A building partially obscured by greenery, featuring the phrase "Words Sounds Colors" prominently painted on its wall under a blue sky.

Photography by Masaki Ogawa. © Words Sounds Colors & Shapes.

Taking over a modern three-storey building, the store’s khaki-green exterior subtly asserts its presence amid its muted neighbours. Designed by Touhami and his Paris-based creative agency Art Recherche Industrie (AIR), the interior strikes a balance between alpine rawness and urban polish. The floors, walls, and ceiling are clad in salvaged timber, lending the space a warm, weathered texture that evokes both Alpine chalets and traditional Japanese woodworking. In contrast, poured concrete floors, minimalist stainless-steel fixtures, and a sleek glass vitrine slicing through the room inject a dose of industrial restraint, while a matrix of electric-blue wall shelving adds punctuation.

A rustic living room with wooden walls, a glass coffee table, patterned throw pillow, and framed art pieces.

Photography by Masaki Ogawa. © Words Sounds Colors & Shapes.

A cozy wooden wall adorned with framed vintage mountain artwork and modern graphic prints, including a poster about learning art.

Photography by Masaki Ogawa. © Words Sounds Colors & Shapes.

Interior of a stylish boutique featuring wooden walls, colorful apparel displays, and large windows letting in natural light.

Photography by Masaki Ogawa. © Words Sounds Colors & Shapes.

Image

Photography by Masaki Ogawa. © Words Sounds Colors & Shapes.

A stylish retail space with wooden walls, colorful clothing display, a clear showcase of stickers, and eclectic wall art and mirrors.

Photography by Masaki Ogawa. © Words Sounds Colors & Shapes.

  • A wall with vibrant blue shelves arranged in a grid pattern, contrasting against a rustic wooden background.

    Photography by Masaki Ogawa. © Words Sounds Colors & Shapes.

  • A colorful geometric sculpture sits on a wooden ledge, surrounded by various badges and a sign about the cost of sun energy.

    Photography by Masaki Ogawa. © Words Sounds Colors & Shapes.

  • A wooden nook featuring a red Marcel Duchamp poster, a retro phone, and mirrors, with minimalist art on the walls.

    Photography by Masaki Ogawa. © Words Sounds Colors & Shapes.

  • A framed black-and-white photograph of a flower in sandy texture, paired with a circular artwork, mounted on a wooden wall.

    Photography by Masaki Ogawa. © Words Sounds Colors & Shapes.

Two beige backpacks with various pockets and colorful straps, showcasing distinct designs and sizes against a white background.

Drei Berge x Porter Canvas 24L Backpack. © Porter.

The pared-down palette serves as a subdued stage for the store’s curated offerings. At its core is DIE DREI BERGE, Touhami’s elevated casualwear label, which debuted in Paris in 2024 and finds a natural second home here. Produced in Japan and Italy using high-end materials like cashmere and Sea Island cotton, the garments are designed for the modern hiker, someone just as likely to be navigating the streets of Tokyo as the trails of the Bernese Alps, where Touhami’s boutique alpine lodge, Hotel Drei Berge, is nestled.

A standout highlight is the return of the DIE DREI BERGE × PORTER canvas backpack, a zero-plastic collaboration with Japan’s legendary bagmakers. Crafted from heavyweight sailcloth and finished with genuine gold-plated hardware, the backpack fuses maritime durability with alpine utility.

  • Olive green cap with "ARTISTIC HESITATION" stitched in peach, floating against a white background, casting a soft shadow.

    Drei Berge “Artistic Hesitations” Cap. © Die Drei Berge.

  • A white ceramic cup with black text and a yellow sun graphic, accompanied by a matching saucer.

    Drei Berge Fundamental Cappuccino Cup. © Die Drei Berge.

  • Bright orange doormat with bold blue text reading "I READ THE NEWS TODAY OH BOY." The mat has a black border and a shadow beneath.

    Radical Media Archive: "I Read The News Today Oh Boy".  100 x 155 cm. © Radical Media Archive.

  • Close-up of a dark denim jacket featuring gold buttons with a penguin emblem.

    Denim Painters Pants. © Die Drei Berge.

Colorful rug featuring snow-capped mountains and a red train, labeled with "Jungfrau," "Eiger," and "Mönch" altitudes in meters.

Medalion-Shaped Mountain Rug: Drei Berge. 100 x 80 cm. © A Young Hiker.

Close-up of a leather patch on dark denim, embossed with "Mountain Pants" and a mountain climber graphic, reading "Manufactured in Japan."

Denim Painters Pants. © Die Drei Berge.

A magazine spread titled "Socotra: The Forgotten Island," featuring a group of boys near a turquoise water pool amidst rocky cliffs.

Useless Fighters, Issue 2. © Useless Fighters

Complementing the apparel selection is a selection of tableware and rugs originally designed for Hotel Drei Berge, as well as rare publications from THE RADICAL MEDIA ARCHIVES, Touhami’s Paris-based second-hand bookstore focusing on French resistance movements and countercultural design from the 1960s and ’70s. Also on offer are issues of USELESS FIGHTERS, a biannual magazine published by PERMANENT FILES, a new publishing house and art gallery co-founded by Touhami and creative director Leonardo Vernhet. Through insightful reportage and evocative photography, the magazine reframes mountains not as leisure destinations but as geopolitical, ecological, and spiritual flashpoints, from cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo to drug trafficking in Lebanon and the contested site of Noah’s Ark in Türkiye.

A curated collection of photography, also courtesy of PERMANENT FILES, rounds up the offerings at the Tokyo store, giving visitors not only a glimpse into Touhami’s multidisciplinary world but a reminder that retail, too, can be a form of storytelling.

  • Close-up of the magazine "Useless Fighters," featuring a black-and-white cover photo of a figure wearing an ornate outfit in a landscape.

    Useless Fighters, Issue 1. © Useless Fighters

  • A magazine spread featuring the title "When Faith Moves Mountains" by Francis Alÿs, alongside a photo of a line of people in a desert.

    Useless Fighters, Issue 1. © Useless Fighters

  • A person in a red jacket stands, surrounded by various camouflage clothing and a cluttered orange table, in a cozy shop setting.

    Useless Fighters, Issue 1. © Useless Fighters

A book titled "Useless Fighters: Fights in the Andes Mountains" by Sophie Stafford, featuring a dynamic cover design.

Useless Fighters, Issue 2. © Useless Fighters

Book cover of "Useless Fighters: Blue Mountains Jamaica" by Gabriel Moses, featuring a shirtless man with long hair amidst lush greenery.

Useless Fighters, Issue 2. © Useless Fighters

  • An open magazine page features a person in a red-and-white checkered scarf among green cannabis plants, with bold text about the drug trade.

    Useless Fighters, Issue 2. © Useless Fighters

  • A vivid book spread showing a rocky landscape with colorful plants on the left and a makeshift dwelling with stacked bottles on the right.

    Useless Fighters, Issue 2. © Useless Fighters

  • An open book featuring abstract artwork with a blue background, black grid lines, and multiple figures in monochrome against vibrant colors.

    Useless Fighters, Issue 2. © Useless Fighters

A modern interior scene featuring a vase of lilies, a box of colorful socks, black shoes, and rubber boots on a wooden shelf.

Photography by Masaki Ogawa. © Words Sounds Colors & Shapes.

Interior of a trendy retail space featuring wooden walls, blue shelves, a glass display of colorful patches, and sleek stainless steel fixtures.

Photography by Masaki Ogawa. © Words Sounds Colors & Shapes.

A stylish boutique featuring glass displays, colorful apparel, framed nature photos, and blue shelves in a rustic wooden setting.

Photography by Masaki Ogawa. © Words Sounds Colors & Shapes.

A building partially obscured by greenery, featuring the phrase "Words Sounds Colors" prominently displayed above its windows.

Photography by Masaki Ogawa. © Words Sounds Colors & Shapes.

A green storefront labeled "WORDS" displays art and posters, with a small vintage vehicle parked outside and lush foliage framing the scene.

Photography by Masaki Ogawa. © Words Sounds Colors & Shapes.