Culture

Choosing the Form of One Tree Beside Furniture: The New First Floor at ACTUS Shinjuku

One-of-a-kind greenery, wooden furniture, and art come together at the ACTUS Shinjuku store, reopened on August 8.

Wood lattice extends above a passage, framed on both sides by tall trees and overlapping leaves. ACTUS Shinjuku extensively renovated its first floor and reopened it August 8. NODERIUM’s interior greenery now includes one-of-a-kind plants from Okinawa. It is a place for viewing furniture, pots, and art not as separate searches, but as things that make the same room.

Large and small interior plants in white and copper-toned pots lining both sides of a wood-lattice passage at ACTUS Shinjuku
Photo courtesy of ACTUS Co., Ltd. (material published on PR TIMES)

In the opening photograph, a passage runs straight between plants. Copper- and paper-toned pots stand on the left, white pots and wood stands on the right. Leaf sizes and trunk heights do not match. A bright floor and wood lattice gather that irregularity into one landscape. Seeing plants with chairs and shelves makes their future at home easier to imagine than isolating them.

Do Not Place Plants Outside the Furniture

ACTUS Shinjuku marks 41 years since opening in 1985. Following last year’s second-floor work, the first floor was renovated and reopened August 8. It now holds a rotating feature area, shelves presenting domestic and international household objects with space, and NODERIUM interior greenery. The official announcement says one-of-a-kind plants sourced from Okinawa have joined NODERIUM.

NODERIUM began in 2020 and opened its Tokyo flagship on ACTUS Shinjuku’s first floor in 2024. ACTUS positions plants alongside furniture and objects as elements making a life. The sales floor therefore asks more than leaf rarity: Is the plant taller than a sofa back? How do branch lines look from the dining table? How does pot color meet flooring and wood? Relationships with a room can be tested before placement.

Measure a Room’s Empty Space Through One Tree Form

A one-of-a-kind plant cannot be chosen by name and size alone. Some look balanced from the front; others have lateral branches that work beside an entrance or chair. Dense leaves softly divide a background, while open branches preserve furniture and light beyond. Changing angle while walking the aisle helps imagine the view from where the pot will stand.

There is no need to rush “one of a kind” toward rarity or price. It means branch lean, leaf direction, and space between trunk and pot differ from the neighboring plant. Unlike finished furniture, a plant continues moving toward light, dropping old leaves and making new ones. Can the room accept not only its present form but the form still changing? That is essential before choosing.

A pot is not an accessory, but the link between floor and leaves. White brightens an outline; dark color tightens trunk lines. A wood stand lifting the pot brings low leaves closer to furniture seats. The photographed floor varies both height and material rather than merely displaying many plants. Bring home photographs and dimensions of the intended spot to make consultation about circulation and light, not mood alone, easier.

A photograph cannot determine species or ease of care. NODERIUM carries plants selected for interior character and ease, including hydroponic products, but not every one-of-a-kind specimen necessarily shares one method. Confirm light, temperature, watering, and pot system for the specific plant at the store.

Walk Among Wood, Photography, and Original Art

The first feature in the new area comes from Kitanosumai Sekkeisha of Higashikawa, Hokkaido. The company has made furniture in a converted school since 1978; its work appears beside Waterside Portraits by Kentauros Yasunaga, a photographer based in the same town. Current store information runs the furniture feature and photography exhibition through September 27. Expressions remaining after timber becomes furniture and waterside landscapes can be viewed at the same pace.

Through September 6, coricci’s original-art exhibition Landscapes Reflected on the Wall is also on view, with themes of “bloom” and “silence.” Moving from plants to furniture, photography, and original art reveals that green leaves need not finish a room alone. Blank wall, wood color, vessel curves, plant shadow: when each carries a little, the room’s density settles.

When Visiting, Look Beyond the Plants

The store connects directly to Exit C8 of Shinjuku-sanchome Station and is open 11:00 a.m.–7:00 p.m., closed Wednesdays except holidays. Even when visiting for plants, first notice seat height nearby, lighting direction, and pot width from the aisle. On finding a pot, consider not only where at home it will go, but what will be seen from it. Choosing a plant also creates a new destination for the gaze inside a room.

References and sources

Sources consulted in researching and writing this story. Follow each link to review the original material.

  1. アクタス・新宿店が大規模リニューアル — 株式会社アクタス / PR TIMES
  2. アクタス・新宿店 / ノードリウム・東京 — 株式会社アクタス
  3. NODERIUM(ノードリウム) — 株式会社アクタス
  4. グリーンが主役のインテリアショップがオープン — 株式会社アクタス / PR TIMES
  5. PR TIMES 利用規約 — 株式会社PR TIMES

Related stories