World’s smallest bar goes on sale for £80,000

A provocative six-seater ‘Lip Bar’ designed by Japanese artist Daido Moriyama has gone on sale at luxury London department store Selfridges for £80,000.

Japanese artist Daido Moriyama’s Lip Bar has gone on sale at Selfridges for £80,000

Launched in time for Valentine’s Day, the bar, which claims to be the world’s smallest, features a recurring lip motif based on a photo by Moriyama.

Best known for his gritty black-and-white photography, Moriyama’s London bar is inspired by the tiny drinking dens in Golden Gai, an area of Shinjuku in Tokyo. Moriyama also designed a similar space, Bar Kuro in Tokyo, which boasts his red lip design.

His dimly lit, five square-metre London speakeasy can be booked by singletons looking for love this Valentine’s Day. An hour at the bar costs £10 and includes two Asahi beers, sort drinks or a cup of saké for you and your paramour.

While the Lip Bar is designed as a space where singles can meet and mingle, couples are also encouraged to swing by.

The Lip Bar will be open until March 3, and can also be bought outright for £80,000 as part of Selfridges’ State Of The Arts campaign, which showcases installations, limited-edition pieces and in-store displays at its UK stores.

Those keen to delve deeper into Moriyama’s work can check out his black-and-white photos of Japan’s street life on display at Selfridges’ Art Store, which brings together works from renowned galleries like the White Cube and Gagosian.

The department store’s three-month State Of The Arts project, which launched last month, promotes the work of nine different artists.

If you’re not able to score a seat at the Lip Bar, London has plenty of other diminutive drinking dens to explore.