Aya is a modern Japanese restaurant inspired by haikus, a type of short form poetry traditionally written in three parts from Japan. Each haiku is written to playfully depict some of the ingredients from the kitchen and to describe the existential: be it ageing, yearning, nostalgia or death. The logo acts as a charming good luck feline character, the three letters in its name a subtle link back to the poems. Menus have a torn edge as if they were removed from a book of manga. The bill holder was based on Shūgi-bukuro, a special envelope in which money is given as a gift in Japan.

Illustrations by Kyonosuke Takayasu with words by Nick Asbury.