Huge Makes Glow-in-the-Dark Ramen a Thing

Nakamura.ke is the world’s first glow-in-the-dark ramen pop-up. 

Huge recently became the creative technology partner for Zoo as Zoo, the Atlanta-based avant garde design studio, to launch the new dining experience - which offers a living theatre (interactive) dining experience for consumers. The tech-heavy ramen shop experience is debuting in two Atlanta locations, where it will remain through March 2nd, before it goes on to tour L.A. and Sydney. 

Huge partnered with the new brand by launching two transformative pieces of work for diners. 

The first piece of in-store creative, titled “Living Portraits,” allows for guests to interact with three 50-inch interactive portraits of the wait staff throughout the space. The installation is by Frank Nitty 3000, the artist known for his surreal portraits, that reacts to the restaurant-goers’ proximities to each portrait. When close enough, the portrait will create a parallax effect between the original art and the user. The portraits feature the actual waitresses and waiters at the restaurant, who are real-life actors. 

The second is the creation of an blacklight AR-enabled zine, whose 50 pages contain the menu, credits and program for the glow-in-the-dark experience, by leveraging Apple ARKit and Google ARCore in browser. The art will contain obscure URLs (CTAs) that when visited will trigger ambient AR experiences, bringing the menu to life with pop-up renderings of each dish.

Derek Fridman, chief design officer at Huge, said: “Working with Zoo as Zoo to launch this new restaurant was a natural partnership for us. We have a rich history of creating immersive experiences through technology in order to facilitate richer, more meaningful interactions for people, and exploring a new application for this type of work was something that we jumped at.”