It is undoubtedly due to the achievements of Kashiwa Sato that the general public has become widely aware of the profession of creative director and the work of branding.
He worked on the branding of Honda's minivan "Step Wagon" for eight years starting in 1996 when he was with Hakuhodo, provided overall direction for the global expansion of the Uniqlo brand that began in 8, and rebranded 2006-Eleven with a focus on private brands. Furthermore, we have many long-lasting projects, including our work with Rakuten, which began when we received a request for a VI project in 2003, and our work with Imabari Towel, which has continued since 2006 and has not only established the brand but also revitalized the region. A characteristic of his work is that there are many.
Taking on the challenge of the unprecedented exhibition “Kashiwa Sato Exhibition”
The Kashiwa Sato Exhibition, the largest solo exhibition to date, will be held at the National Art Center, Tokyo this fall, presenting the trajectory of Sato's activities over the past 30 years from multiple angles. Sato himself will be curating the space where his work, which we have become familiar with in our daily lives, will be exhibited as "works."
UNIQLO is a clothing brand that began its global expansion in 2006 with the opening of its New York flagship store. We provide comprehensive direction that is directly connected to management, including the logo mark with both katakana and Western characters, flagship store designs around the world in collaboration with domestic and international creators, product planning, and promotion strategies.
“The National Art Center, Tokyo approached us about holding the ``Kashiwa Sato Exhibition'' about three years ago.Since the National Art Center, Tokyo opened in 2007, design has been one of its important exhibition themes. However, in 2016, we decided to do something about design as a national art museum in this era. The first was ``MIYAKE ISSEY Exhibition: The Work of Issey Miyake'', and the following year, ``Ando Tadao Exhibition - Challenge'' was held to commemorate the 2017th anniversary.I was invited to speak as the third exhibition. I'm very honored."
``I'm a bit scared to have a large-scale solo exhibition following Issey Miyake and Tadao Ando,'' Sato says with a laugh, but he actually had a vague hope that he would ``someday be here.''
``This museum is the fifth national art museum in Japan that was established after 30 years.I designed the symbol mark and logotype, so I hope I can do my best to have my own exhibition at a place like this someday.'' However, since it is a national museum, it is a place where special exhibitions such as the Renoir exhibition (5) are held, and it is not a design museum or design gallery, so it is difficult to see in terms of genre. I thought it would be difficult, so I was really happy when I was approached."
Kashiwa Sato's office designed by Takaharu Tezuka + Yui Tezuka. The pure white walls are lined with storage without handles, and the only thing in the spacious space is a large desk and chairs lined up at evenly spaced intervals. We spoke at a beautiful office where Kashiwa Sato's organizational techniques are put into practice.
In 2002, Sato received the Yusaku Kamekura Award and was shown in ``Kashiwa Sato The Power of Art Direction!'' held at Creation Gallery G8, and in 2004 at Ginza Graphic Gallery in ``Kashiwa Sato The Power of Art Direction!'' He has experience in solo exhibitions such as ``Shiwa Exhibition BEYOND''.
“When I was at Ginza Graphic Gallery, the space was small, and since it was a design gallery, the audience was all people who understood design.On the other hand, the exhibition room at the National Art Center, Tokyo was about 2000 square meters, and the exhibition period was 3 I'm sure a wide range of people will be visiting the museum over the coming months, so it's completely different from the last time.I don't want it to be something that only people in the design field find interesting, so this time I'm going to look at my work objectively and re-edit it. I feel like I'm going to give a presentation."
Introducing a wide range of projects through experiential exhibits
Indeed, very few large-scale solo exhibitions have been held for active designers. That alone shows that Sato's achievements over the past 30 years have been a major change in the times. Were there any exhibitions that you used as reference or inspiration for this event?
``Last summer, I went to see an exhibition by Virgil Abloh (Off-White designer and Louis Vuitton men's line) at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.He is the creative director. I am a fashion designer and an artist, so in a sense, I have something in common with this exhibition.Although the nature of the project is completely different, it was very inspiring. It was interesting to see how well cross-disciplinary work was shown.It really made me realize that we live in such an era."
In 2007, he designed the logo for the National Art Center, Tokyo, which opened in Roppongi. We decided to use the kanji character ``new'' as our symbol because we focused on novelties not found in conventional art museums, such as ``not having a collection'' and ``serving as an art information center.''
Virgil is a commercial figure in his own right, but not everyone has the items he designs, and his awareness is limited to a limited age group. On the other hand, in Sato's case, his work has become overwhelmingly popular. There are very few designers whose work is subconsciously known to everyone, young and old. In addition to the UNIQLO logo, which has the brand name written in white in red with katakana and English letters, and the Seven Premium logos, which are based on the traditional 7&i design, the T-POINT has a yellow "T" on a blue background. The Rakuten logo, with its impressive "R" symbol, is seen somewhere every day.
``That's right. That's why I think it's difficult to show them. People see the Uniqlo and Seven Premium logos on the streets every day. I just saw it, but it's not interesting at all (lol).Once the event was decided, I was wondering how to visualize the wide variety of work I'm always involved in. I've been thinking about it for the last two years. I've designed a lot of logos, so the corner where they all come together will be one of the main exhibits. Of course, it's not something you can just print out on A2 paper and show off. Instead, it becomes a giant drawing, a sculpture, or something like pop art.The end result is an exhibition where you can experience the space, the products, the images, and the interactive elements. I want to change the way it looks for each project.”
Kashiwa Sato
creative director
Born in Tokyo in 1965. He graduated from Tama Art University, Department of Graphic Design. After working at Hakuhodo Inc., he founded the creative studio "SAMURAI" in 2000, where he worked as a total brand strategy producer. His main work includes global brand strategy for Uniqlo and Rakuten Group, as well as branding projects for Seven-Eleven Japan and Yanmar. He is involved in a wide range of projects, including the ``Future Danchi Project'' with the Urban Renaissance Agency and the branding of Imabari Towel. He has also been involved in many large-scale architectural projects. 2016 Agency for Cultural Affairs Cultural Envoy.
◆“Kashiwa Sato Exhibition”
The National Art Center, Tokyo/Special Exhibition Room 1E
7-22-2 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Wednesday, September 2020, 16 - Monday, December 2020, 12
From Wednesday, July 2021, 2 to Monday, December 3, 2020
10: 00-18: 00(Every Friday and Saturday until 21:00 in September. Until 10:12 from October to December)
*For the time being, the museum will not be open at night.
*Last admission is 30 minutes before closing.
Closed every Tuesday
*However, it will be open on September 22nd (Tuesday/holiday) and November 11rd (Tuesday/holiday), and closed on September 23rd (Wednesday) and November 11th (Wednesday).
*However, it will be open on February 2rd (Tuesday/Holiday) and May 23th (Tuesday/Holiday), and closed on February 5th (Wednesday).
Photography by Yoshiaki Tsutsui
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