WORK

Created for the 10th anniversary of Japanese footwear brand SUBU, known for its warm and comfortable winter sandals designed for casual everyday wear, this immersive pop-up experience explored the world of the brand’s 25AW season theme, “HORROR.”

Built around the concept “Once you put them on, there’s no going back,” the space reinterpreted the brand’s signature comfort through a horror-inspired immersive environment created with spatial design and projection mapping.

For this event, we provided technical direction for two interactive experience areas.
The production was led by Nieichi, which approached the project as an important challenge following the previous year’s event, with a focus on creating more interactive experiences. To support this effort, we worked on the design and troubleshooting of technically demanding areas while providing technical support for implementation by Nieichi’s engineering team.

The first area was a fully immersive projection environment in which both the walls and floor were covered entirely with moving imagery. Using high-precision positional tracking powered by LiDAR sensors, the space featured interactive effects in which eerie footprints appeared in response to each visitor’s movement.

By capturing visitor positions in real time and linking their behavior directly to the visual experience, the installation created the sensation of wandering into an otherworldly space inhabited by mysterious creatures.

The second area was an interactive installation that placed visitors at the center of the experience through the use of a vertically oriented display. When a visitor stepped onto a designated spot, a pressure-sensitive floor sensor triggered the experience seamlessly.

Using face-tracking technology, one of ten different yokai characters was composited in real time onto the visitor’s face in augmented reality. Real-time CG animation synchronized with facial movement transformed the visitor’s appearance on screen, creating a seamless and uncanny experience of becoming possessed by a yokai.

Project overview by Nieichi
https://2eichi.com/subu-popup-2025