Quizzing Kenzo…

Kenzo Minami’s body of work has ranged from his beginnings in set design to establishing his graphic driven collection of high quality t-shirts, designing his own Reebok Pump and everything amazing in between. Not only has he accomplished about twice of what most people normally do in a lifetime at the age of 33, as a person he exudes an admirable rare quality of humility. His symbol laden, color-punctuated work features his signature intricate use of geometric shapes, dinosaur skulls, chains, and swords.

In my interview with him I discovered his musings on “Numbers of God”, veal and recognizing happiness in the present moment. Feel free to take a few notes, it gets a little cerebral!

And make sure to visit his website to enjoy more of what he’s done: www.kenzominami.com

Name and age please
Kenzo Minami
Age 33

Marital Status
Single.

Where are you originally from and how long have you lived in New York?
I am originally from Hyogo, Japan. I’ve lived in New York for 14 years.

What are the very best memories of your New York life?
I did have one of those moments similar to the scene from the end of the film “Stardust Memories”, when every ordinary detail in life seems to be perfect and almost makes you believe that everything in life is absolutely justified. I remember I was walking down 3rd Avenue with my girlfriend at the time, to East Village to have brunch on the weekend in late spring. And something about that was so profoundly perfect that I was actually aware that it is one of those moments that will stay with me as one of the happy times, as I was experiencing it. It is pretty rare since we seem to be able to truly see our own happiness only in retrospect, which is such a curse. Though I should stop it here before this whole thing turn into a sentimental bore and you start hearing violins and people rolling their eyes.

And the summer of 99’. It was just insane (or I was just insane). I guess Prince knew what he was talking about. At some point of that summer, it was turning into pure survival. Which is pretty silly when I think about it.

Give us a brief rundown of your CV
I do this and that, here and there.

Which projects are you currently working on?
I am working on several things at once right at this moment, but the thing is that I am not quite sure if I can talk about them, and this seems to be happening more and more these days. I am never sure which ones were o.k. for me to talk about, if I was allowed, if I want to in the first place, or what. So I generally stopped talking about what I am working on (or sometimes what I do all together) at this point. Not to simply sound cool, mind you. I am just confused.

But my friend recently called me up and asked me if I want to work on something together (which has nothing to do with graphic or design at the moment), and we met up for long dinner (or it ended up being a dinner, starting with coffee). Among all the things we talked about, I said what if “ (the system of) Causality is drunk” as a concept – even though this might not be appropriate idea for the particular project, I started thinking about it.

But mainly, I have been trying to get to Japan for a few months now since I haven’t been there for 7 years. And this is somehow turning into such a big project trying to book the ticket since every time I try to do so, I get the job offer that I cannot seem to refuse. So I guess I am working on myself trying to resist the urge to take on more projects at this moment. Or I may be having some deeper issue with my past, parents, or some such things. In that case, I should be working on something entirely different, for example, on myself.

(Minami’s recent work “Synchronization” commissioned for Mercedes-Benz’s “Famous Cars + Famous People“)

What’s next?
Finding the moment of perfect serenity in life and trying to get used to it.

What do you do when you get a chance to slow down?
I freak out.

How does your study of Philosophy and Industrial Design influence your work?
No matter how I answer this, I cannot avoid sounding completely pretentious (though it might be too late for me to redeem myself from it at this point), so I’ll just go with it.

First of all, I was somewhat aware of the fact that (and it turned out to be true in retrospect), no matter which medium I was going to be working in / with, having some sort of underlining basic metaphysical (if vague) understanding of the world and solid philosophical standpoint would help – and even more effectively so if I was going to be juggling multiple mediums. So I decided to immerse myself into a year of pure ideas, concepts, and my own sense of logic before I study anything art / design related. So I studied philosophy for a year in university before I came to U.S. to study design.

So interestingly (and not so surprisingly), what I do now somewhat relates more to the approach, mentality, and what I studied from Western Philosophy than any Design / Art education I had (which was quite eclectic to begin with). Though after all the continuous roam among different medium and mind sets and approaches which come with them, it seems that my work is slowly going back to where I started as philosophy student though as pretentious as it sounds (and my god it really does. As I warned you.). I think it somewhat makes sense that I studied both philosophy and industrial design. One is ergonomics for function of biological human state in physical environment and the other is for ergonomics of human psyche and state according to the sociological and metaphysical environment. As much as they seem to be dealing with something polar opposite, I think there is a place they can coexist and corporate. Actually majoring philosophy (as oppose to, 3 a.m. coffee talk on life, universe, and everything, wearing a lot of tweed) also helped me get over the whole state of “Dylan, Espresso, and Existential doubt” I’d been stuck in for a long time even though I still listen to Bob Dylan, drink ungodly amount of espresso, love tweed, and have a lot of doubt in general.

(click on images to enlarge)

How did you begin your career and how did you branch off into doing fashion, graphic art, toys, etc?
I started my career as set designer back then. And I started shooting shorts and doing motion graphic, and eventually moved on to work in TV broadcast for 7 years and… As this is going to be a very long one and not sure if anyone would care to know, I just would say that things snowballed.

You use a lot of prime numbers in your work, what do these numbers mean for you?
This came about as I became interested in Mathematics and Physics as concept and theme at some point.

So this whole notion of “God’s numbers” or “Mathematical equation of God” - the idea that when mathematics and physics become in its higher level, idea of numbers becomes quite fuzzy and becomes less and less about 1+1=2. They seem to come closer and closer to philosophy or even religion. As a matter of fact, there are a lot of mathematician and physicists who ended up becoming religious after years of truth-searching through numbers. Mathematics at the highest level becomes all about “decoding the truth of nature through numbers.”

And I also came to the take on Prime Numbers as “Numbers of God” since they cannot be divided except by one or itself - as in the concept of God shall not be divided except by itself.

How did you become involved with Nike?
Long story short, for the first project I did with Nike, Matt Clark who was working at Nike at the time happened to see the one only sticker I ever made, which Mandy Coon who was my roommate at the time had – and he asked her who made the sticker. Apparently at the same time, he was asking some people in New York who they recommend for doing the mural for the new art space they were going to open. And he got the same name from both and contacted me. It is still unbelievable that Nike gave a complete unknown such a big task when they could easily get any names. It must have been a courageous move on their end and I still owe them for it. Curiously enough, other projects I did with them were not because of this first project, but they all happened independently. They were all different types of projects handled by different departments within Nike (which is a large company and a lot of people work in it, I hear), and I was contacted by different people from completely different departments, sometimes unaware of the fact that I had done some projects with them already at the time.

What is your favorite medium to work in?
I have no preference.

Where does your inspiration come from?
Words.

If you could collaborate with anyone in any medium, who would you want to work with and what would you do?
I don’t have specific names, but I would like to do something with someone in theatre.

And if it’s for products, I would like to do a collaboration with some weird sporting goods company for the sports no one really play, like for cricket, rather than usual basketball and whatnot. (I am speaking of New York here. I know that there is nothing weird or wrong about cricket. Though does anyone play it in New York? ) I would like to do limited edition cricket bat. Which comes handy in New York City anyway so I think there is a market.

Who’s work in particular do you admire?
Woody Allen. Last 30 seconds of “Manhattan” leading up to credits are one of the most perfect things in any art form that I have ever seen. (Though as a film, I think “Stardust Memories” ,“Crime and Misdemeanors”, or ”Hannah and Her Sisters” are better made. ) I always think that if I could ever do one thing, which does not have to be with my work, as perfect as that (or do something which invoke the level of emotion the sequence invoke in me), I can say that I did something with my life.

How would you describe your personal style?
An old-fashioned, in darker hue.

What are your favorite clothing brands and designers?
Ann Demeulemeester

Favorite shoes/sneakers?
Hand-made Carol Christian Powell shoes.

What do you own that other people would die to get their hands on?
Hyperactive Metabolism.

Top 3 essential qualities in a lady?
Tangibility. Reliability. Sanity.

What are your favorite bars, restaurants, lounges?
Sadly, they all seem to be same to me these days.

What are your top 3 restaurants in New York and your favorite dishes there?
Employees Only – Veal. (Eating this while looking at the photograph of Nikola Tesla they have on the wall is as good as it gets, even though you do have to struggle with your own sense of guilt and fear for the concept of karma and reincarnation.)

Lovely Day – Ginger Friend Chicken. (I really don’t know what’s in it, but it took me a while to get off this thing.)

Soy – Curry Rice with beef croquette. (As I was answering this, I got hungry and went out to get one.)

(Minami’s supermodel pal An Oost in “Numero Deux”)

What’s in heavy rotation on your Ipod?
Bill Evans Trio. Beethoven. Cannonball Adderley. Bob Dylan. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Elvis Costello. The Police. Nino Rota. Ian Brown. Steely Dan. The Doobie Brothers. Bee Gees. Chantal Goya. Arto Lindsay.

What is your most recent discovery/exploration in the city?
The fact that the city has numerous exit signs and we do have a choice of taking off from it once in a while.

Do you plan on living in New York forever? If not, where else can you see yourself?
I do not plan on living here forever, but the sad part is that I cannot see myself anywhere else right at this moment. I do want to eventually move to somewhere quieter - maybe somewhere in Europe, having a quiet life making veal and battling against my guilt.

If you smoke, tell us your favorite rolling paper.
I do not.

Favorite drink/cocktail of choice.
I drink less and less these days, but I still do like some whiskey chased with Stella.

Any shoutouts or underrepped people in your circle that you think our readers need to know about?
I know that he is already famous, and not quite in my circle since I met him long time ago and saw him a few times since, but I think Arto Lindsay is still under appreciated. Or at least not appreciated enough to match his contribution to humanity (or to my sanity). We should be building the shrine for that guy by now.

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