Illoiha fitness club is located in Tokyo’s fashion district, so interior design group Nendo wanted something appropriately chic for the walls, something that embodied the gym’s concept of “beauty through movement”. Their inspiration: a climbing wall made of decidedly hip and unconventional climbing holds.

“We developed a design that uses the mismatch between a rugged outdoor sport and Tokyo’s fashion district to its advantage,” says Nendo. “Instead of the usual rough and outdoorsy climbing wall, we came up with the idea of using interior design elements like picture frames, mirrors, deer heads, bird cages and flower vases to create a challenging wall with hard-to-find holds and unusual finger grips.”

It is striking. And very cool. It’s just…I dunno, there’s just something about the thought of taking a fall, even a short top-roped one, into a deer antler…

Tagged as: climbing