Interview with Yusuke Seki
Hailing from Tokyo, Japan, Yusuke Seki is a designer, across architecture, product and interiors. His work is clean, simplistic, and innovative, and his projects have seen him transform spaces into almost-installation art that blends key design disciplines.
His most recent work at the Maruhiro Flagship Store in Japan saw 25,000 pieces of locally sourced ceramic tableware filled with concrete to create an elevated level in the store. Maruhiro is the leading producer of Hasami ceramics, which includes pottery and porcelain. The Flagship Store is in Hasami, the town in Japan’s Nagasaki prefecture, an area that has produced pottery for 400 years. According to Seki, the way he designed the elevated level conveyed the fragility of the each individual item, which were engineered together to inspire and cultivate respect for the legacy as a whole.
Delving deeper into Seki’s world we spoke to him about his work, process of creation and why he pursues minimalism.
fluoro. How do you describe your style?
ご自身のスタイルをどのように表現されますか？
Yusuke Seki. I am a designer. My ideal image of a designer is not one who creates a new design, but rather one who takes a role to expand the possibility of how to see things or think about them.
デザイナーです。 自分の考える理想のデザイナー像は、新しい造形を生み出すというよりかは、物事の見方や考え方の可能性を伸ばせる役割だと考えます。
f. Tell us about your design process from initiation to completion
ご自身のデザインプロセスの始めから終わりまでについて教えてください。
YS. First, I observe and study the situation of the site single-mindedly. Such as, what it is next to and what is in front of the site, as well as how the traffic lines flow from the nearest station. Based on those findings, I pick up patterns the space has and set rules suitable for the scene.
現地の状況をひたすら観察します。 隣接するもの、正面にあるものはもちろん、近くの駅からの動線なども観察検証します。 それらの検証結果から、どこか空間のもっている癖をピックアップしそこからその場に適したルールを設定します。
f. What do you seek to extract from the existing context when you commence a new project?
新しいプロジェクトを開始するとき、既存の背景から何を引き出そうとするのですか？
YS. It depends on the situation. In the Maruhiro project, I tried to make the most out of the production background of Hasami ceramics. In the Majotae project, the display came about from the restriction that you cannot suspend objects from the ceiling. I can say this approach is similar to Japanese ancient martial arts, Akikido where the power of the surroundings is converted into another force.
その状況下におかれないとわかりません。Maruhiroでは、はさみ焼きの生産背景を生かし、 Majotaeは上から物を吊ってはいけないという規制からあのディスプレイになりました。
周りの力を違う力に還元するという日本古来の合気道のようなものでしょうか。
f. Your designs are very minimalistic, what are the pros and cons of such an approach?
ご自身のデザインは非常にミニマリスティックですが、そのようなアプローチのよい面、悪い面は何ですか？
YS. I am currently interested in hiding the fundamental concept or intention and making it ambiguous. If I must pick any negative aspect of this approach, I would say the effort of the craftsmen is not easily conveyed, but even though it looks minimal at first sight, it actually requires an enormous effort during the installation process in most cases.
根底にあるコンセプトや狙いを隠したりぼやかしたりすることに今は興味があります。
強いて悪いところをあげるならぱっと見、ミニマルに見えることも施工では相当苦労しているケースがほとんどなので、 職人たちの労が伝わりにくいことでしょうか？
f. Where do your designs place the user?
デザインではユーザーをどこに位置づけられていますか？
YS. At the moment, most of my work (space) can only be experienced in Japan, but I would like to gradually increase the number of projects overseas and would like many different people to share their sense of values.
現在は、ほとんど私の仕事（空間）は日本でしか体験できないです。 今から少しずつ国外での仕事を増やして様々な人に価値観の共有をしてもらいたいです。
f. Why does the colour white have such a presence in your work?
作品では白色が非常に印象的ですが、それはどうしてですか？
YS. For Maruhiro, plaster was applied to the walls because Hasami ceramics are made using plaster molds. In Japan, white is the main colour used in Shinto, so it may be a natural choice for us. My favorite colour is indigo, by the way.
マルヒロの場合は、はさみ焼き自体が石膏型から器を成形する背景があるので壁面には石膏を塗っています。 日本人にとって、白色は神前で使われる主な色なので 自然と選んでしまうかもしれません。ちなみに私が好きな色は藍色です。
f. How do you balance consistency with elements of surprise/newness in each project?
ひとつひとつのプロジェクトに驚きの要素や新しい要素を取り入れながら、プロジェクト間の一貫性のバランスをどのようにして保っているのですか？
YS. You can say designing means how much you can quantify things, but I don’t think it is good to fixate on this idea. So I try to introduce the elements that are difficult to quantify to any space as much as possible.
設計とはどれだけ物事を数値化できるかという見方が出来ると思うのですが、私はそれに固執することは良いとは思いません。 なので、できる限り数値に置き換えづらい要素をどの空間にも導入しています。
f. You have previously been involved in product design. Will we ever see a home product or furniture range by Yusuke Seki?
以前にプロダクトデザインの経験がおありですが、将来的に Yusuke Seki のインテリア製品や家具製品のシリーズをお考えですか？
YS. Yes. I think life today has become too convenient, so it may be interesting to create something inconvenient now. For example, a mirror that is not easy to see yourself, or the shoes that you do not want to wear out because they are too beautiful…
思います。
世の中便利になりすぎているので 不便なものでも今は良い気がします。写りにくい鏡とか形が美しすぎて外に履いて出たくない靴とか。
f. From projects like the Maruhiro Flagship Store and the Majotae exhibition it seems that you are quite fascinated by crafts. Tell us about your relationship to this?
Maruhiro Flagship ストアや Majotae の展示のようなプロジェクトから、伝統工芸品に大きな関心を示されているように見受けられますが、それとの関係について教えてください。
YS. I have a huge respect for craftsmen, because nothing can be realized without them. Recently, one craftsman said to me, “Working with you involves a lot of new challenges and is very difficult, but the sense of achievement is tremendous and it is great fun.” I was very touched by these words. I am happy that we can share such experiences.
職人さんに対してはかなりの敬意を持っています。 彼らがいないと何事も実現できませんから。
最近、私との仕事は初めてな体験が多くて大変だけど、 実現できた時の達成感はものすごいし、すごく楽しい。 と言われた時は感動しました。そういう経験を共有できて嬉しいです。
f. What’s your dream project?
夢のプロジェクトは？
YS. I would love to be involved with renovations of old buildings overseas. The bigger the project size, the more I fantasize about it and get excited. I would be honored if I could be involved with museum projects.
海外の古い建物のリノベーションは行いたいです。 規模が大きくなればなるほど妄想でワクワクしますね。
美術館など関われると光栄です。
f. What projects can we expect to see from you in the coming year?
来年はどのようなプロジェクトが見られますか？
YS. There is a project with a cooking knife shop in Tsubame-sanjo, one of the most famous iron work towns in Japan, and the first stage of renovation of a Shinto shrine in Kyushu will be complete. I also have a project with a museum shop.
日本屈指の鉄工の_都市燕三条の包丁の店、 九州のとある神社の改修の第一期工事が完了します。あとはミュージアムショップなどです。
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Yusuke Seki’s designs convey a timeless minimalistic aesthetic, which presents a certain emotion into each space that it inhabits. This quality is intrinsic to Seki, that a type of magic is apparent in most, if not all his pieces. His most recent work, the Otsuka-Gofukuten Kimono Store in the heart of Kobe City, saw Seki create a very clean organic appearance for the space with functional properties to reflect the comparisons with Kimono.
A modernist, a classicist, it seems impossible to put Seki’s work into any specific category. He thinks it’s time to create something inconvenient as life has become increasingly convenient, and with the work that Seki is currently producing, he may just be the man for the job.
Stay tuned for fluoro more in Seki’s world.
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