HARRY POTTER FLAGSHIP STORE: HARAJUKU, TOKYO
Lead Designer & Art Director · 8 environments + ceiling & 15×11m fascia · Photoshop (illustration + photo-comp) · Partners: Warner Bros, Lumsden, CodSteaks, Technically Creative.
In August 2025, Japan opened its first flagship Harry Potter store in Harajuku. I was commissioned to create large-scale designs depicting the Forbidden Forest, spanning across eight walls, ceiling, and fascia. The result was a permanent retail destination designed to feel like stepping into the Forbidden Forest.
THE BRIEF
The brief was clear and ambitious: create an atmospheric forest filled with magical creatures, on brand for the Harry Potter universe but without tying it to a specific time or storyline. The first task was a 13×5m ceiling mural situated above 3D trees, designed to make visitors feel as though they were looking up through a forest canopy into the night sky. I gathered references, sketched options, and built a full concept board to clarify perspective and style. Warner Bros pushed for realism, moody, mist-filled, and cinematic, which became the visual language for the whole space.
Early concept sketches and compositions
CHALLENGES
The scale was the biggest challenge. Working at 120dpi across files this size was almost unmanageable, so I built a system of three layered files for each scene: composition, editing, and final detail, and each file was linked within the next, instead of embedded. This gave me the space to balance lighting, add mist and creatures, and make changes quickly without crashing my machine. That workflow proved invaluable when dimensions shifted late in production; a wall needed extending by half a metre, but because my artwork was built larger than spec, I could resolve it within an hour, saving the client from extra costs and delays.
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Stage 01: Stock Imagery compilation
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Stage 02: Scene creation
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Stage 03: Lighting and colour adjustments
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Stage 04: Atmosphere building
THE FASCIA
After the ceiling came the store fascia, which needed to double as a canvas for animation. I meticulously sectioned the design in to print and digital areas, and supplied layered artwork so that the animation team could bring depth and movement: owls swooping, spiders descending, the Ford Anglia darting between trees. It transformed the storefront into a living, breathing slice of the Forbidden Forest.
RESULT
The final result was the backdrop to the whole environment, an anchor for the storytelling and a photo moment in its own right. Visitors posed in front of centaurs, children pointed out hidden owls and bowtruckles, and the shopfront became a social media favourite. Even Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) walked past one of the scenes and called it “awesome.” Press described the shop as “so much more than just a retail space” (Time Out Tokyo) and highlighted the immersive graphics as a key part of the experience.
Additional Imagery
In collaboration with Lumsden · Fabrication: CodSteaks · Animation: Technically Creative. Harry Potter TM & © WBEI.