WHAT WE DO IS SECRET

Nobuyoshi Araki @Jablonka Gallery, Berlin

アラーキーこと荒木経惟の、ベルリンでの展覧会の模様を撮ったフィルム。会場には、モノクロの「緊縛」シリーズからの１００点が展示された。昔から思うのだが、写真家というのには二つタイプがあって、えらく匂いがしてきそうな写真を撮る写真家と、無臭性の写真をとるタイプに分かれるような気がする。荒木経惟の場合は前者で、日本という国のある一面の体臭みたいなものを非常にうまく捉える写真家だと、常々関心させられる。ちょうど、日本社会の雌しべの部分をヘッドスペース分析 (Headspace analysis) して、写真で再表現したような…

Perfumers（調香師の仲間達）

私の様々なプロジェクトに参画してくれた香水調香師達（ファインフラグランス パフューマー）の中で、特にお気に入りの６人の調香師達それぞれについて、個人的な感想を求められたことがありました。今日ちょうど２年振りにその記事を目にしたので、改めて読み返してみたところ、割と的を射たことを言っているなと、ひとりで笑ってしまいました。英語ですが、辞書を使ったりオンラインの機械翻訳を使って読んでみてください。世界を舞台にして香水を作っていきたいという方。。。これからまだ暫くは、本場の香水業界の仕事に関わる為には、英語とフランス語が中心に物事が進んでいく環境に身を投じなければならない、という事は覚悟しておいた方が良いでしょう。

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Exactly two years ago, I was asked by someone to describe each perfumer I had worked with. Have my views changed in two years? Not really.

ソフィア・グロスマン／Sophia Grojsman - There are so many things that I want to say about her. The article on Sophia in the popular perfume blog Bois de Jasmin describes the perfumer very well. In short, Sophia is a very warm person, a dynamo, and an absolute genius!

アルベルト・モリヤス／Alberto Morillas - Had I only known his creations on the market, I wouldn’t have asked him to create scents for me. I was simply drawn into his personal creations and ideas that didn’t end up on the market. What makes him unique is having a very strong style of his own and being versatile at the same time. He is wild at heart, fun to be with, workerholic, and he really loves women. I think we have a perfect recipe to be a great perfumer here.

クリストフ・ロダミエル／Christophe Laudamiel - 4 years ago (so, it’s 6 years ago.), when I first heard about a young talented perfumer with “a red Mohican,” I knew he was meant for my projects. There is a charismatic woman like Sophia in the industry, but most others look too conservative and uptight. After all it’s a luxury business, and I want to see more colorful guys like Christophe in the industry. However, that’s not the most important thing about him. The most striking thing about Christophe is his extremely innovative ideas - he is a scientist and an artist at the same time.

アニック・メナルド／Annick Menardo – As Luca Turin believes, this is another genius. She is extremely intelligent, but a bit difficult. I am madly in love with her creations, especially the one that didn’t end up on the maket called “MADONNE.” I don’t understand why no one has taken it.

ティエリー・ワッサー／Thierry Wasser – An international man of mystery… a great guy with so much talent, but so elusive to the point it’s too difficult to describe him. He is handsome and stylish, but that has nothing to do with his talent. I worked with Thierry most frequently since he understood my ideas very quickly. He is a very artistic person himself in a way classical musicians are. His powerful perfumery balanced very well with the style of my art.

ロク・ドング／Loc Dong - Loc is another ‘different kind’ among the young perfumers today. He is ambitious [good], doesn’t think he is an artist [interesting], Asian [Yes!], and might be a genius [we'll see]. Loc still doesn’t have many solo creation under his belt, but his unique style is getting a lot of attention in the industry. I will say he will be the first Asian perfumer to be as prominent as Cavallier and Morillas in the future.

I was also asked to assign each perfumer a single perfume note that I felt best represented their personalities. I thought it was kind of a boring question and decided to give each perfumer a theme or a mission.

ソフィア・グロスマン／Sophia Grosjman: Essence of women, or Mother

アルベルト・モリヤス／Alberto Morillas: Scent for an elegant and wealthy European woman who spends time in New York City during the weekends

クリストフ・ロダミエル／Christophe Laudamiel: A Night at the Opera

アニック・メナルド／Annick Menardo: The Virgin

ティエリー・ワッサー／Thierry Wasser: He would be perfect to revamp a brand like Guerlain. (I first said this more than five years ago.)

ロク・ドング／Loc Dong: n/a (I didn’t assign him a theme since I was working on a project with him at that time.)

(By the way, LVMH/Guerlain will announce their new perfumer early next month.)

John Burnham Schwartz

In summer of 1987, I met a handsome Harvard student in Tokyo. He was staying in Japan during the summer break. I don’t remember why he wanted to visit Japan but clearly do remember what he wanted to become. He was still twenty-one or so and was in his undergraduate years. When I asked if he wanted to become a lawyer like his father, he simply replied, “No, I want to be an author.” It sounded naive, but his eyes looked determined.

We didn’t stay in touch after he had returned to the States, but I had remembered those eyes and his name ‘John B. Schwartz’ for years. About ten years ago, when I introduced myself to a woman at a friend’s party in Brooklyn, she immediately recognized that I was Japanese because of the book she had read. The story took place in Japan, and she told me that one of the characters in that book had the same name (Nobi) as mine. A few days later, when I got a copy of the book, I was grinning and laughing.

Last night we had a dinner with Ron Winnegrad (The head of IFF perfumery school) and his wife Robin. Ron has quite an interesting personal background - his father was a manager for known prize fighters, and he was babysat by them as a child. His looks and his way of thinking seem to belong to an artist rather than someone who runs a very exclusive and successful perfumery school, and of course that is why I always enjoy seeing him. I am always interested in hearing about the young and talented future perfumers. This time Ron told me about a young student from Brazil whose story reminded me of John B. Schwartz, which made me think that a real determination often appears in a very innocent manner.

Becoming a perfumer for known houses could be more difficult than becoming a successful author, but you will get there if you are disciplined and determined enough.

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本当の香水調香師になることは、作家として成功することよりも困難なことかもしれません。しかし、強い決心と集中力があれば、日本人であっても世界の檜舞台で活躍する道は開けてきます。

Correction and Addition

I am probably was wrong about the news on Takasago yesterday. It might be It’s Firmenich. Many rumors are circulating in the secretive industry. It’s simply fun to speculate on the rumors. The Givaudan kingdom is in turmoil (this is almost certain), and what I’m hearing seems to be the beginning of a bigger story.

Firmenich may be the one laughing in the end, but many people there, including Jacques Cavallier and Annick Menardo, must have been in tears to see Thierry Wasser leave Firmenich earlier this week.

Thierry, Google your name. This is for you.

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高砂が新しい調香師を獲得したというのニュースは誤報でした。この数日間、主に世界のトップレベルの調香師達の間でいろいろな噂が飛び交っています。２００６年の秋にクェスト社を買収し、世界最大の香料会社となったジボダンが、この先も何人かの調香師を失うことになる模様。すでにジボダンからフィルメニッヒに２人の調香師が移籍することになっているようですが、その他に数名の有名な調香師達の今後の動向についていろいろな噂が流れています。高砂がこの機に乗じて何かの動きを見せてくれると、今後の香水業界のビジネス展開が面白くなると思うのですが…

さて、先に述べたようにフィルメニッヒの調香師ティエリー ワッサーが、ゲランの調香師、つまりあのジャン ポール・ゲランの後任になるというニュースには驚かされました。ゲランが正式な発表をするまでにはまだ時間があるので、詳しい話はひかえておきますが、１年程前にLVMH社が（ゲランの親会社）がティエリーにアプローチしたという話を聞いていましたから、かなり慎重な話し合いが進められたものと思われます。ティエリーのパワフルで飛び切りイカした調香のスタイルを思うと、ゲランの今後が楽しみで仕方がありません。

Damn, I Was Right!

Yo, Thierry!

I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!!

Do you remember what I predicted 3 years ago?

… man, you’re the best.

A huge congratulations !!!

Nobi

(what a day…)

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３年程前にフィルメニッヒの調香師ティエリー ワッサーに「お前は、そのうちゲランの調香師になるよ。」と言って茶化したことがありました。いやぁ、本当のことになってしまいました。６月の初旬に正式に発表されるはずです。

蔡國強 (Cai Guo-Qiang)

Cai Guo-Qiang has been known as 蔡國強 in Japan, and many (or most?) of us still pronounce his name ‘さい・こっきょう’, which sounds terribly different from the real pronunciation. The way he is called in the US is closer to Chinese, but I suppose the artist wouldn’t mind the way Japanese call his name since he had spent the early part of his career in Japan (before moving to New York) long enough to think he has a Japanese name. What is probably most important about his name is the meaning of it, and as a Japanese, I see the two characters of his given name as awe-inspiring, just like his art. 國強 means “Powerful Nation.”

Cai Guo-Qiang/ I Want to Believe @ Guggenheim Museum
(Link to the visual documents of the incredible installation process at Guggenheim Museum)

Takashi Murakami @ Brooklyn Museum

Following the show at MOCA, Takashi Murakami’s retrospective opened at Brooklyn Museum yesterday.

The image below is from the opening gala on Thursday evening. While Kanye West performed in front of the guests, Marc Jacobs (in green) played a fan.

© Photo by Eric Weiss

David Adjaye

It’s good to see a BROTHER in a world dominated by whites. Born in Tanzania, David Adjaye based in London is one of the most talked about young architects today. Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver, his first building in the US, opened last fall, and he has opened an office in New York City besides his offices in London and Berlin. Architect David Adjaye is clearly on the move.

I am looking forward to his future projects in Japan where a foreign architect is usually given the most freedom and the best engineers and contractors in the world. Unlike New York City where we find many mediocre architectures by star architects these days (it’s not really their fault, I have to say), Japan is an amazing showcase of architectural gems. One thing for sure - it is going to be a real test for David Adjaye to build something there. MORE »

Gwenael Nicolas’s Curiosity

Philippe Starck seems to have been consumed by his own profession, but designer Gwenael Nicolas may have found something almost spiritual in being a designer. MORE »

design is dead

I was a producer of materiality and I am ashamed of this fact. Everything I designed was unnecessary. I will definitely give up in two years’ time …design is a dreadful form of expression…. In future there will be no more designers. The designers of the future will be the personal coach, the gym trainer, the diet consultant.

Philippe Starck to quit ‘useless’ design

Clayton James Cubitt a.k.a. Siege

Two decades ago, when I first saw several images taken by a then unknown artist David LaChapelle (he was more of an artist than a photographer), I felt like being hit on the head with a mallet. I’ve recently felt the same way seeing some images and a video taken by Clayton James Cubitt a.k.a. Siege. And his mallet is maybe even bigger…

Here is the profile of an extremely talented artist in Brooklyn.

The artist’s website

Julius Popp’s Bit.Fall

Just take a look at this.

Here’s the artist.

Related link: Design and the Elastic Mind

Two Dudes from Echo Park

These guys are awesome. This is Americans at their best. They are not trying to be sophisticated or stylish. Like Pollock, Serra and Gehry, they are cowboys with amazingly creative minds. Look at their… office? shop? studio? It’s even more glorious than the shack that Frank Gehry had some 20 years ago. It’s the kind of place where starving artists smoke some weed together (and work, of course). By the way, these two guys, Benjamin Ball and Gaston Nogues, are architects.

Ball-Nogues Studio

Jacques Polge

100% LOVE

Yeah,
it’s about
a perfumer
this time
!

Heath Ledger

More than 2 weeks after he was found dead in his Manhattan apartment, Heath Ledger’s body was cremated in a private ceremony in Perth, Australia on Saturday (02/09/08) followed by a twilight swim at his favorite beach. I’m posting this just for frivolous reasons…

100% LOVE


Lords of Dogtown (trailer, 2005)

Takashi Murakami @ MOCA

Before Takashi Murakami’s exhibition at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA ends next Monday (2/11/08), I wanted to take a look at his star-studded opening back in October 2007. When was the last time we saw so many celebrities at an art opening - when Andy Warhol was alive?

100% LOVE

More related video’s at MOCA’s YouTube channel

Vodka of the Year

100% LOVE

The new campaign by Belvedere Vodka (originally from Poland) owned by LVMH is called “Luxury Reborn.” The celebrities in the campaign are Terry Richardson, Vincent Gallo and RZA. As you can see from the casts in the commercial, this is a niche campaign, and people who don’t get it are unlikely to recognize the campaign.

If you can relate to the short commercial, it’s worth checking out the interview of Vincent Gallo at the Belvedere Vodka’s website. Unfortunately the entire site is Flash, and the navigations is not so good. The interview can be found where it says DISCOVER LUXURY REBORN/THE CAMPAIGN BEHIND THE SCENE after the splash page.

And for those who love perfumes - Sabina Belli, the woman who is interviewing Vincent Gallo, was Dior’s International Marketing Director for Fragrance, Cosmetics and Skincare a few years ago. According to perfumer Thierry Wasser, he was able to complete the scent of Dior Addict in just two and a half months because of Sabina Belli’s inspiring description of what she wanted for the fragrance.