ATHA–Alternative Space/ Bar-Restaurant was a 6-year-long experiment in the early 2000s to create a “social sculpture” on
Teramachi Street in the center of Kyoto. ATHA aimed at providing a space where people could meet, network, and enjoy
cultural events over a drink at a time when digital communication started to replace in-person meetups.
The “hand” chosen as an icon for ATHA symbolized in-person contact, warmth, communication, and exchange.
Today, ATHA lives on in the many friendships and links built at the time between customers, visitors, restaurant staff
and the public.
