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A Fashion Insider’s Guide to Tokyo

The Platform LA founders took us on the road with them as they uncovered new ways to elevate their brand.

Travel
A Fashion Insider’s Guide to Tokyo

Do you ever just feel like you need to get the heck out? Unplug, hop on a plane and head, well, anywhere? Yeah, us too. All the time. There’s no denying that our brains need a break every now and then, and one of the only ways to guarantee chill time is by taking a trip. The way we look at it is if we choose a destination that we find inspiring (and that has unlimited amounts of tequila, of course), we’ll come back feeling ten times more motivated. Turns out we aren’t the only ones to think this way. The two brains behind Platform LA—real estate geniuses David Fishbein and Joseph Miller (also of Runyon Group)—take inspirational trips on a regular basis to discover new ways that they can elevate their brand.

In case you’re not familiar, Platform LA is a retail project in Culver City that spans over four acres and is home to many a brand. The best of the best brands are there: Aesop’s first US day spa, Linda Farrow’s first US shop, Sweetgreen’s HQ, Reformation just had their first vintage fair there, even SoulCycle’s West Coast HQ is there. We could go on, but you get the point.

Back to the inspiration trip: Fishbein and Miller’s most recent adventure took them to Japan, and upon their return they shared with us their iPhone diaries, including all the luxe and innovative spaces that Japan had to offer.

“When I told friends I was heading to Tokyo, many asked the time-honored question ‘business or pleasure?’ When your business is discovering new neighborhoods, merchants, and chefs from around the world—and your business partner is also your very close friend—the answer becomes a bit of both.

“David and I set off to Tokyo at the invitation of the executives from Mitsubishi Real Estate and Takenaka (both Japanese real estate companies). We met them earlier in the year after they contacted us upon discovering PLATFORM, a collection of buildings we recently completed in Culver City. Inspired by their discovery, our new friends invited us to come to Japan to see if there might be opportunities to work together on something similar.

“After four full days in Tokyo, I can safely say we returned from the trip with an infinitely deeper knowledge than when we imparted. Japan is a singular place—an ancient culture totally different than our own. Art, music, food, social interaction and etiquette, sense of self; all of it is different. This is a culture that manifests itself in amazing ways and the relevance of our business and our pleasure was more congruent than ever before. We returned to L.A. inspired by the inarguable dedication to craft, manifested in every moment from the pizza at Seirinka to the next-level pen collection at Tsutaya. We were also deeply touched by the kindness and genuine care our hosts and new friends exhibited. The trip proved itself an incredible inspiration, not only for work but also for how we may be able to bring a bit of that Japanese hospitality home.”


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“Aman has the most epic hotels internationally. We had to stop in and see what we were missing. #interiorgoals”
Part of the series:

On The Road

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