Joyful Spaces: TeamLab Borderless – Ana Moisin, Founder and Creative Director, Anamo Design Studio

Outside our homes, the commercial spaces we inhabit daily should do more than just function – they should enrich our lives and spark joy.  Our new Joyful Spaces series will form a collection of inspiring spaces, chosen by designers and professionals who share their personal connections to the places that brighten their days.

Each article in this series highlights a personally significant commercial space, exploring its history, design, and emotional resonance through the eyes of the contributor. By uncovering the stories behind these spaces, we hope to celebrate the environments that uplift and inspire us.

This new series continues with a Joyful Space chosen by Ana Moisin, Founder and Creative Director at Anamo Design Studio. In her own words, Ana reflects on teamLab Borderless in Tokyos Minato City and how it quietly redefines the idea of exhibition design.

‘There are places that photograph well, and then there are places that resist being captured entirely because the experiences are so fluid they seem to slip through the frame. teamLab Borderless in Tokyos Minato City belongs firmly to the latter: a space that cannot be reduced to a single image, no matter how many times it circulates online.

I arrived on my birthday, though the timing now feels less like coincidence and more like choreography. Japan, after all, rewards a certain intentionality. That day ended up being one of the most memorable of the entire trip. There was something quite special about experiencing a space like that on a day that already felt significant. It elevated it beyond just a visit and became a moment I still think about.

Borderless had lived in my imagination long before I stepped inside. Like many, I first encountered it through a fleeting image – one of those hypnotic, almost liquid visuals that resist explanation. It lingered for a while before it came time to map the trip.

The arrival is quite breathtaking. You move through a darkened sequence and then down an open staircase filled with ultraviolet light. There’s a moment of complete sensory shift, almost like a form of deprivation, where everything you’re used to reading in a space disappears. It slows you down instantly. You become much more aware of your body, your movement, and what’s around you.

What unfolds inside is an ecosystem of neurological experiences. Rooms bleed into one another; installations exist both independently and in conversation. There is no prescribed route, no narrative imposed from above. Instead, you wander– drawn by light, by sound, by instinct. Time becomes elastic. Minutes stretch into hours without warning.

This is where Borderless quietly redefines the idea of exhibition design. There is no singular masterpiece anchoring the experience, and no linear progression guiding you from one moment to the next. Instead, the space is responsive, immersive and alive – it is in constant flux. Return to the same room twice, and it will not be the same room.

In that unpredictability lies its power. Borderless relinquishes control. It hands authorship to the visitor, inviting a kind of co-creation that feels both rare and deeply personal. You are not simply observing; you are participating, shaping the experience through your movement and attention.

And perhaps that is why it lingers. A memory with texture – fluid, luminous, difficult to contain.

We often speak of and design spaces that inspire us, that stay with us long after we leave. But the most compelling ones do something more: they alter our relationship with perception itself. Borderless is one of those spaces.

In the end, its greatest offering is its permission to let go of structure, of certainty, of the need to navigate.

To be, for a moment, completely and joyfully lost.’

Ana Moisin, Founder and Creative Director at Anamo Design Studio

With over a decade’s experience in Interior Design, Ana Moisin – the Creative Director and Founder of Anamo Design Studio seeks to deliver the highest creative solutions with an outstanding professionalism. Her passion for art and design started at a very early age, so she decided to pursue an Art and Music School in parallel with her Primary and Secondary Education.

After graduating with 1st Class Honours in Interior Architecture, Ana has been leading premium and high-end Hospitality, Leisure and F&B projects from the very early concept stages to on-site completion. She has an enormous passion for design, phenomenal attention to detail and thorough technical knowledge including finishes and FF&E specifications.

Ana’s international education and experience inspired her to draw inspiration from a vast range of subjects such as intricate geometry and rich cultural heritages, combined with an eclectic approach to textures and patterns. Following a number of successful positions at renowned interior design firms, Ana established Anamo Design Studio, an international practice focusing on a multidisciplinary approach to deliver a complete guest experience.