Nendo fashion climbing wall photo frames

Climbing walls in homes are far from a common sight, but maybe that shouldn’t be the case. If you could install a climbing wall as whimsical and lovely as this one spotted in Japan, it is easy to imagine such walls popping up in homes everywhere. It looks purely decorative at first glance, but it is located in a gym, after all, so it’s cool to find there’s a “secret” use for all those empty photo frames.

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Nendo fashion climbing wall

This wall is part of a fitness club in Tokyo, where it combines a rugged outdoor sport with a fantastical storybook aesthetic. Climbers grab onto hand and footholds that look like picture frames, mirrors, vases and birdcages.

The same look would be perfect for an in-home climbing gym. Rather than the typical industrial climbing wall, the Alice in Wonderland-inspired theme would fit in perfectly with the objects already present in the home – but in a perfectly silly way.

Nendo fashion climbing wall unique

Designed by Nendo, the Illoiha is an award winning fashion-focused gym. From the architects:

“The second branch of the ILLOIHA fitness club is located on two below-ground floors of a building. Since the gym is spread out over the two floors, we decided to use a studio with an unusual two-story ceiling to unify the space.

Nendo fashion climbing wall gym fun

“To express the original brand concept of “becoming beautiful through movement”, we chose the theme “rock-climbing in Omotesando” and developed a design that uses the mismatch between a rugged outdoor sport and Tokyo’s fashion district to its advantage. 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. We hope that our uniquely Omotesando-style climbing wall inspires newcomers to try out the sport, and starts a new wave in fitness with style.”