I’ve always been a big Kaws fan, although I couldn’t afford the vinyl toys he makes with Medicom, I recently had a chance to purchase a book he released in a small show he did in Japan a few years back.

Here is his latest work, inspired by Pipo, the mascot of the Japanese police.  Spot the difference.

The Original

The Kaws Version

Nothing much to report about these days, lots of background chatter, something might happen soon. But for now, I’ll leave you guys with some 90’s hip-hop from the Souls Of Mischief, the track is called 93 ‘Til Infinity.

A thought came to mind while I was at the office earlier.  Why am I so insistent in trying to become an active part of the art, design and music culture?

I’m not really sure what to say, but this idea came to me while thinking about it. I think partly it’s because it allows me to make my mark in this world. In today’s current age where products and ideas are pushed by multinationals, being involved in culture is one of the things that I feel is something that’s achievable by an ordinary citizen like me. It’s one of the things that you can still try to grasp and feel with your own hands, not just something mass produced by or built up by factory or marketing machines just to sell. Something like a song, when written honestly can feel like the artist or the band is sharing part of their soul or their personality to the listen. It feels genuine.

But these days, even that isn’t safe from the prying hands of the big players. It’s funny though, because even before some of these subcultures have already crossed bounderies to mainstream markets. However I feel that these days, what’s happening is that companies are integrating into the culture and making it seem that they are supporting it’s ideals and history.  But the truth is they are bastardizing it and making it fit into their mold, while still selling it to people who don’t know better. And as you see more and more people are getting into these cultures or subcultures under the assumption that it is real, when in reality this just the same machine under a different guise.

I hope I made sense. Think about it.

Great video from Spike Jonze. A commercial he shot for Girl Skateboards. Didn’t notice it at first, I thought it was just cause the the video is blurry, they were really riding on invisible skateboards! Now it really got interesting, great effect work from Mr. Jonze. Background music is pretty cool as well.

Today I want to share another design company. This time we are focusing on interior design. I would like to introduce to everybody, Wonderwall Inc.

Wonderwall Inc. is spearheaded by Masamichi Katayama. It’s the same company that’s responsible for the A Bathing Ape retail store Busy Work Shop in Japan, London, New York and Hong Kong. In fact, Nigo and Bape was one of their first customers and some could say, their claim to fame.

They have since then gone on to design various retail stores as well as restaurants. From APC to the Tokyo Curry House, Wonderwall Inc’s design concepts is all about breaking barriers while still taking in consideration everything that is important in any store. The Japanese are known for their focus on detail, it’s the same ideals for Wonderwall. From the type of lighting, materials, proportions as well as the actual experience of the store, all these elements come into play in their designs.

I felt it was only appropriate that the first masterpiece I should present is none other than the atelier of Wonderwall Inc.

Next up is one of the first projects of Wonderwall Inc.. The Busy Work Shop in Harajuku, it was originally built during 1998, but it has been recently renovated.

BUSY WORK SHOP HARAJUKU

For the Bape store, after discussions with Nigo, we decided to create a store that felt like a town within a building with an American diner flair. However, for the top floor, a sense of playfulness was added with a colonial style resort inspired space.

They also worked on the offices of Ogilvy & Mathers in Japan, as well as the retail store for A.P.C. Homme in Daikanyama.

OGILVY & MATHER JAPAN

These offices are located on the 25th floor of a large office building. A great view of the Tokyo landscape is incorporated into a common space connecting each division which can be used as a lounge, with a variety of randomly placed chairs.

A.P.C. HOMME DAIKANYAMA

Creating an impression of a space that had some big changes to the interior without actually making changes was an important factor in this project. The space has been restructured while revering the fact that it was cherished for a long time, with a garden as the entrance, with different rooms and space each with it’s own scenario of the A.P.C. world.

I felt it was only apt to end with another Bape store. This time we have the Bapexclusive store in Aoyama.

BAPEXCLUSIVE AOYAMA

For this project, Katayama wanted a coexistence of two opposing ideas; minimal and maximum. The ground floor is very minimal; a very controlled space made of pure-white grids of tiles. The second floor is a maxim space surrounded by walls of sneakers and floored with carpeting made of 10 colors. For the stairway which links the two floors, a lighting system and mirrors are utilized to change colors and allow the light to spill down to the ground floor. The conveyer belt for the sneakers on the 2nd floor is enclosed in a glass cylinder. The middle of the conveyer belt is open through the ground floor that allows one to view the rotating sneakers from below via the mirrored ceiling.

Store descriptions and pictures were courtesy of the Wonderwall website. You can see more of their designs and some bonus stuff in their website.

Hope you guys enjoyed this feature, I will try to share more cool stuff in the future.

I’ve always liked looking at nice things, whether it’s girls, drawings, pictures, whatever.

Today, I shall share the office/laboratory of Under Cover in Tokyo, Japan. Now, what is Under Cover? Well those who follow Paris fashion shows should know the brand by now, headed by Jun Takashi. Well, no, I don’t follow fashion shows, but I know Jun Takashi because of his streetwear background.

In the early 90’s, Jun or Jonio as he is called, opened a shop named Nowhere in Harajuku. Together with his partner, Nigo, they sold limited and exclusive shirts designed and printed by themselves. And yes, it’s the same Nigo who is now the head of the multi-million A Bathing Ape label.

Without further ado, here are the pictures of the UC office. Designed by Klein Dytham architecture (KNa). Pictures and text also courtesy of KNa.

Undercover Lab is a building, which is undercover. Not only is it tucked away in the back streets of Harajuku but the site is also very deceiving. A 10m long narrow driveway leads to a 12m x 12m site at the rear.

The building houses a studio, press showroom, and office. A 20m long hanger rail to show the entire collection of one season was required. This is housed in a black tube running along the only 20m straight line on the site, which extends out over the entrance driveway. This cantilevered tube extends the building’s influence to the main street in a strong but stealth way.

The tube was made to look as anonymous as possible, almost like a shipping container where you have no idea of its contents. The tube also conjures up images of telescopes etc, which give the building a mysterious feel _ nobody knowing what quite is going on inside. So much so that some people may feel intimidated just walking under the tube if they are unannounced.

In the name of continuous learning, I spent the past few nights watching some classic films in the graffiti, hip-hop and b-boy scene. I started with Wild Style, then with Beat Street and finally Style Wars. Funny thing is that most of these films were released in between ‘82 to ‘84, I reckon the period looks like one of the key periods that catapulted the culture to the level it is currently. It is also the last few years of subway “bombing” as New York adopted more stricter security measures and harsher penalties to violators which lead to many graffiti artists hanging up their cans and pens.

Personally I feel that this change helped open up people to the artists themselves as they started to focus their work towards art galleries and shows, although some bombers might contest that the trains was the best medium for their work, I think art shows is something that was bound to happen when you start generating interest like they did in the 80’s. While some might coin this as selling out, I simply think that it is evolution, albeit somewhat forced. It’s funny how fast graffiti moved from being just vandalism and now it is considered to be part of modern and pop art. Artists like Keith Haring, Futura, Jean-Michel Basquiat, once the vandals of society and now their paintings probably cost more than the salary of the Mayor of New York.

It’s great to see how the vibe of New York at the time was, it was like in the infancy stages and now it’s fully grown. While I never really knew how it felt back then, watching these films at least gives me a glimpse of the culture’s past.

For me, the really interesting insight I got was how influential the 80’s were to the current generation. I can only wonder if our current generation can leave as great an impact as the past has done to us.

Hey guys, I’m looking to buy scrap papers like white bond paper, newsprint and carton/corrugated boxes. The more, the merrier and the best part of it all, I’m willing to do pick-ups! (Depending on quantity of course)

I’m also looking for a lot or warehouse to rent or lease. Looking at around 100sqm, around the Manila area. Willing to consider other areas as well.

Please feel free to message me here or contact me via YM: jason_qua. I’m almost always online.

Thank you homies!

One of the things that inspires me of late is the Philosophy Zine. It’s editor is Tetsu Nishiyama of Wtaps fame(www.wtaps.com). While Wtaps is known more for being one of the most sought after Japanese streetwear labels in the world, the Philosophy Zine is a lot more than just fashion, in a way, there’s almost very little connection to fashion or streetwear. It is really more about Tetsu or Tet’s philosphy and the philosophies of others who share the same common interests.

Most of the contributors are of course Japanese, save for occassional guest contributors from Europe or the U.S. The thing that inspires me the most whenever I read the interviews, the articles or even the letters from the readers, is how they live their life. For them, the most important thing is doing something that they are passionate about, whether it is being a magazine editor, a designer or even just a coffeeshop owner. They take pride in things they do and take every small detail into account. And I feel that the way they write just reaches out to me, it’s like I can really feel they are happy doing what they are doing. They may not be rich or famous but they live a simple life, doing it day by day.

Personally, I feel that I want to live a similar life, to do something that I am passionate about, to live a simple life. Unfortunately, I am constantly conflicted because at the same time, I have been very blessed to have lived most of my life in relative comfort, we are not very rich but our parents made sure that we wouldn’t have to experience the same struggles they had when they were younger. And with this, of course my parents expect us to do the same for the succeeding generations, so as their hard work won’t be wasted. Perhaps we live in a different situation, that in Japan, even with just living simply and doing what they love, unables them to earn sufficiently to live in relative comfort. And in constrast to over here where sometimes, it’s more of a struggle just to bring in proper income to provide for the family if you are just working for your passion. Again the work is relative, if your passion is doing finance, going corporate, doing big business, etc, etc, that might also provide the proper income for your family. I’ve already understood from before that this thought will be my life’s constant struggle.

However, this does not derail the fact that reading their experiences inspires me to work hard, to try to look for things that I am passionate about and hopefully one day I can achieve the true meaning to “my way of life”.

*edit*:I was trying to think what’s the exact feeling that the zine inspires and I think it’s focus and drive. I guess I work best on short spurts of concentration and focus.

Today I came across this awesome animation video representing an interview with John Lennon. It’s a must see!

Here’s the “official” description:
“In 1969, a young boy snuck into John Lennon’s hotel room with his tape recorder and persuaded him to do an interview.”