JOPSU RAMU and TIMO HUHTALA are creatives from Helsinki and friends of SHUN KAWAKAMI. They worked together on a TV design project for the Finnish TV channel NELONEN (http://vimeo.com/7681282).

JOPSU RAMU, an art director and designer and her creative partner and manager TIMO HUHTALA have founded the interdisciplinary design studio MUSUTA Ltd.(http://musuta.com) in Helsinki.

JOPSU had studied furniture design and architecture at the Oulun Yliopisto University in Oulu Finland. During her studies she has spent some time in Tokyo and fell in love with the city. Since than they have been recurring for inspiration and projects and managed to establish their second office in Tokyo.

SATORU YAMSHITA is the founder and creative director of the magazine PLUS EIGTHY ONE (http://plus81.com).

SHUN KAWAKAMI introduced me to the Japanese fashion designer TARO HORIUCHI for whom he has created the corporate identity and the interactive portfolio (http://tarohoriuchi.com).

TAKASHI KAWADA is the partner of SHUN KAWAKAMI and the founder of KOTENHITS (http://kotenhits.com). He was responsible for the art direction of the print issue of the RICH magazine whereas SHUN has created the online issue together with the web production ART CODE INC.

SHUN KAWAKAMI was about to print his beautiful illustrations for the GIULIANO FUJIWARA exhibition in Milan when we ran into him at the WOW studio.

SHUN KAWAKAMI has founded the design studio ARTLESS (http://artless.co.jp, http://nullartless.com/alog) in 2000 in Tokyo. He works as a designer and artist on graphic and installation art. He is a member of Art Directors Club in New York and the Japan Graphic Designer Association (JAGDA).

The collaboration between SHUN KAWAKAMI and the Japanese, Italian fashion brand GIULIANO FUJIWARA (http://giulianofujiwara.com) founded in 1986 in Milan has been not really a coincidence since both share the same spirit of Wabi-sabi, the Japanese aesthetic and attitude to enjoy the beauty of the shadows and transience.

Nor is the collaboration between the artist and WOW. They are dedicated to the same values and visions and have been working together on several projects including the work TEN SPACES which was published to celebrate WOW’s 10th birthday.

We have exchanged only few words and the cards. However back in my apartment I was so impressed by the short research on ARTLESS that I couldn’t help asking SHUN KAWAKAMI for a short interview. And he invited me to a release party of the new fashion magazine RICH (http://richmagazine.com) in MONTOAK club (http://montoak.com).

A black cab drove us to a neat place in 1-14-3 Jinnan in the Shibuya ward where KAZUHIKO KAMEDA, a good friend of SOICHIRO NISHIGAKI and the chief producer at WOW expected us. He introduced us to the cosy studio, the team and the chief creative director KOSUKE OHO (photo).

WOW is a throughly Japanese visual design studio based in Tokyo, Sendai and oddly enough in Florence balancing between commercial projects for prestigious brands and stunning installation artwork for exhibitions (http://wow.co.jp, http://wowlab.net).

We were sitting in the living room on soft leather sofas, drinking iced green tea and watching beautiful, sophisticated and touching pieces of work on a really gigantic TV. While KOSUKE OHO was telling us the stories behind the ideas, the room started to fill steadily with other team members and all of a sudden we had a great chat about inspiration, creativity and Japanese design beyond the pop culture of Akihabara.

WOW’s inspiration oscillates between Tokyo’s high speed and the timeless Japanese arts such as IKEBANA, the traditional art of flower arranging. It’s apects of philosophy, history and representation deeply affect all creativity of the team. On the other hand it is also the constant transformation of the city that gives KOSUKE OHO the daily inspiration dose of highways lined with road signs, rising and falling apart buildings, and emptying and filling places.

At 09:15 pm we knocked at the door of the design studio BLUES. After dinner SOICHIRO invited me to join an idea presentation for a beer brand. HIROSHI KAMAMURA opened the door and let us into the small design studio. He used to work as a creative director at Ogilvy until he has founded his own design studio called BLUES (http://blues.co.jp).

Tonight he was meeting up with SOICHIRO to present some ideas for Heineken’s new office interior design. At 10:00 pm NAOKO KOBAYASHI, an interactive planner and SOICHIRO’s partner arrived and started a creative discussion which lasted precisely until 11:30 pm.

After the two hours meeting we left the studio, went to the station and took the last train home which was completely packed with utterly exhausted people.

GO MATSUMOTO works as a movie producer at Warner Music Japan. He is a good friend of YUYA and once in a while they work together on some projects. As a VJ he was supporting the live act of NAOITO.

MAIKO KISHI is a singer and song-writer based in Tokyo. Briefly we talked before the show. However I was very impressed by her strong personality (sheltered in a fragile body) and her beautiful clear voice.

She used to live in London where she has founded her band Magnolia in 1998. She has released recently her first solo album (http://kishimaiko.com).

While the guys have been practicing and setting up the equipments for the show I got to know P who was taking care of the kids of the band members. P is PICOLA AKIKO. NAOITO and P have been a couple for almost four years.

Her graceful and glowing aura was deeply impressive. She works as a model and actress and travels a lot, especially in Asia. So we talked for hours about Vietnam, Cambodia, Cuba and other beautiful places to be.

NAOITO is a singer and songwriter and lives with his girlfriend PICOLA AKIKO in the charming hood of Nakameguro.

In the age of 19 he travelled to several countries like Jamaica, Nepal, Brazil, and Cuba. Inspired by the acoustics, afro beats, and latin rhythms he founded the band FAMILIA. The name mirrors the values of a real family as a countermovement to the present tough way of life. (http://myspace.com/naoito)

YUYA OZAWA works as record producer and runs a Japanese music label called groundriddim (http://groundriddim.com) with his partner. He is father of a little cute boy with whom he plays American football in his free time. Besides he likes music that makes people happy and has a very sunny spirit.

We met at the TRIPLESHIPS’ Hanami party in Nakameguro and he acted kindly as a interpreter in deep and meaningful conversations.

A while ago I was looking for a specific template for my portfolio on WordPress and found a nice one called TANZAKU which means a small card for writing poems. However I faced a tiny problem and tried to work it out by myself but failed. Finally I asked the creators of the template for help: TRIPLESHIPS, a small interactive wonderful studio based in Tokyo. YAGI MITSUHIKO, a markup engineer, answered my email immediately and a nice chat evolved.

When I was planning my visit to Tokyo I asked them if they feel like meeting up and they invited me to their HANAMI “flower viewing” party.

There I’ve met the president of the studio MIFUNE HIROFUMI, the two account managers KAWAGISHI RYO and HAMADA KENICHI and the designer ONO KAZUHIKO. (http://tripleships.com)

SOICHIRO NISHIGAKI is the Creative Director at SSF Tokyo interactive department (http://ssftokyo.co.jp). He studied economics in Kyoto and graduated with the thesis on Fiction and Reality in Woody Allen’s movies.