Tempo by known unknown carrot cake by The Carrot Tokyo

Tempo by known unknown
carrot cake by The Carrot Tokyo

Client: Tempo by known unknown
Design Company: known unknown (Meisho Mitei Co., Ltd.)
Creative Direction / Package Design: So Rikimaru
Artwork: Yuki Mikami
Food Direction: The Carrot Tokyo
Country: Japan

Tempo by known unknown is a weekend-only café in Nakameguro. To transform the humble, everyday carrot cake into a small gift handed from one person to another, the box itself was designed as an integral part of the brand experience.

One source of inspiration was the nostalgic parcel tied with string that appears in My Neighbor Totoro. Another was the familiar image of a father returning home at night in the Showa era, carrying a takeaway gift from a local restaurant. The design reinterprets a small, long-standing Japanese gesture—bringing something home for someone else—as a contemporary form of gifting.

Artwork composed of lines and shapes by artist Yuki MIKAMI is printed directly onto the box and tied with Tempo’s signature blue string. Designed so that the experience begins even before the box is opened, the packaging balances a sense of familiarity and nostalgia with the space, subtle tension, and slight sense of unexpectedness that define Tempo.