KAZUNOBU NAKAMURA

Specialized in Design.

KAZUNOBU NAKAMURA

About KAZUNOBU NAKAMURA

  • Winner of the A' Design Award.
  • Specialized in Design.
  • Original Design.
  • Creative, Diligent and Innovative.
  • All Designs

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Interview with KAZUNOBU NAKAMURA

Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?
As a boy, I was a child who loved to make sculptures. I loved the scenery that sculptures, or organic objects, created in space. I wanted to work with this feeling, so I decided to become a designer and studied architecture at university. I studied architecture at university and became a designer of spaces. At the same time, as an art activity, he has been presenting installation works based on the theme of organic shapes as they exist in the natural world.
What is "design" for you?
Design is creation that begins with a request from others or consultation from others about a problem. Art is creation that begins with inspiration that comes from within myself.
What kinds of works do you like designing most?
Most jobs have many restrictions, and the client's image of what he or she wants is often limited. And design tolerances are often limited. What I like is work that is tolerant. It depends greatly on the stance of the client. I like the freedom of work that allows me to use the artistic ideas that spring up within me to solve the client's problems and methods.
What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
The ideal of my work is a rich space created by irregular shapes. The Japanese garden has an amorphous element such as a pond that reflects light on the water surface and creates a cool scenery at its center, and the changes in space created by the amorphous shape characterize the surrounding place and give expression to the entire space. The undulating, asymmetrical path that surrounds it invites people. Beautiful trees filled with the wind cover the road, creating a tunnel of green shade that creates an indescribable sense of depth to the light-filled place at the end. Also, Japanese screen paintings various natural shapes with dynamic brush strokes in a space that should be empty, bringing a richness of space to life. Various forms of nature such as trees have been loved the indefinite form that creates beautiful spaces. Pouring rain, Old pine tree covering the air, Clouds adorning the sky, Mist and Fog. Their shape has the power to rich the space. These motifs of organic forms of nature, with their irregular shapes and dynamic brushstrokes, create a flow in the space and beautiful depth and expanse.
What was the first thing you designed for a company?
At the beginning of my career, I designed a small bookstore. It was there that I learned manners toward books. That may be applied to the design of library.
What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
I like materials that are less assertive as materials. Many space designers utilize the strong expression of the material itself, such as stone or solid wood, in their designs. However, I prefer plain, less assertive materials that purely express form and structure.
What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
When designing a space in an empty space, my mind is always empty at the beginning. I seek various stimuli in order to spark ideas in my mind that are suitable for this place. I gather information on the characteristics of the place, the functions required, and the ideal image sought, and turn this information into the seeds of a design.
What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
It gives me great pleasure when it is a space that emanates from my own imagination and is realized.
Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
Vibrant Japanese screen paintings. I believe that the sliding screen paintings and folding screen paintings in the interior of ancient Japanese architecture may have contributed to the depth and breadth of the space. Imagine if these sho-byobu paintings had been plain white, what you would see would be an inorganic, lonely, wretched, empty space in a simple Japanese architecture composed only of horizontal and vertical lines. In the space that should have been empty, a rich space emerges by depicting various forms of nature with dynamic brushstrokes. The large tree that covers the screen and the undulating branches and leaves that surround it, as represented by Eitoku Kano's "Hinokizu Byobu(Cypress Trees Screen)". The rippling, raging river represented by "Hozugawa Folding Screen" by Okyo Maruyama. Although not a wall painting, Hokusai Katsushika's "Fugaku Sanjurokkei/Kanagawa Okinamiura" is known overseas as "The Great Wave" because of its huge waves that seem to engulf the entire space. These motifs of organic forms of nature, with their irregular shapes and dynamic brushstrokes, create a flow in the space and beautiful depth and expanse.
Where do you live? Do you feel the cultural heritage of your country affects your designs? What are the pros and cons during designing as a result of living in your country?
I live in Yokohama-city, Japan. Yokohama is an easy place to get to anywhere in Japan. Living in Japan, I believe that the values of Japanese culture have become ingrained in me. The air, clouds, fog, and rivers that can be felt in the land of Japan. Japanese gardens and art designed with these motifs. By being in this place, one can always feel these tastes directly on my skin.
What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?
It's hard for me to narrow it down to five items. I believe that design is born from chaos. My desk, surrounded by miscellaneous materials and models, is the most comfortable place for me to imagine design. The miscellaneous models created by my past self inspire me now. They are placed in a seemingly chaotic space.
What is your "golden rule" in design?
I believe there is a golden rule in nature. Clouds, the flow of water, the undulation of mountain peaks, the shape of leaves and petals They are always beautiful.
What skills are most important for a designer?
I think the most important skill for a designer is the unquenchable desire to create something. Since this desire is not present in all people, I think the most important skill is to have that feeling of craving come from one's own heart.
Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
The natural landscape of forests, rivers, and mountains, books on ancient Japanese design theory, ancient Japanese art such as folding screen paintings, and organically designed Japanese gardens are sources of inspiration.
Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
The most important use of time is early in the morning and before bedtime. During those times before the world is on-time, you can organize and reset your mind and set an on-time work schedule.
How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
The design period for most jobs is one year or more from conception to the creation of the implementation design. Most projects, regardless of size, take several years to complete, counting from the initial planning stage.
What was your most important job experience?
The success of Kikuchi City Central Library is very important to my career.
Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
Sometimes we work in teams, sometimes we work individually. It depends on how things come together at the time.
How can people contact you?
I can communicate in English, such as by e-mail, but I cannot speak or hear English.

Extended Interview with KAZUNOBU NAKAMURA

Could you please tell us about your experience as a designer, artist, architect or creator?
Graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts, Department of Architecture in 2000, at the top of this class. I started working in the architectural industry, but instead of focusing on architectural design, which focuses on facades and the connections between spaces, I wanted to focus on how to design a single interior space, so I switched to spatial design. At the same time, as an art activity, he began presenting installation works based on the theme of organic shapes that exist in the natural world, and has continued to do so up to the present.
How did you become a designer?
The goal of my design is to manifest and realize the seeds of design that I have found, that is, the trivial elements that only I find attractive, into a form that everyone can understand.
What are your priorities, technique and style when designing?
Whenever I encountered life's choices, I picked and chose what I loved to do with my life and ended up in the profession of designer.
What particular aspects of your background shaped you as a designer?
I am not a design legend, but I hope to become one someday. I don't know how to become one yet, so I continue to search for the answer to that question on a daily basis.
What is your growth path? What are your future plans? What is your dream design project?
I think a great designer is able to create something fresh with unknown values. I think that what a great designer creates is a design made within the scope of existing values.
What is your day to day look like?
I would like to consider design study to create works that abstract and manifest beautiful things in nature, such as trees, clouds, flowing water, and mountain ridges. I would like to turn this study into reality through actual interior and installation design.
How do you know if a product or project is well designed? How do you define good design?
Unfortunately, I don't know yet. I'm still searching for that answer, too.
How do you decide if your design is ready?
I am inspired by old Japanese painters who expressed majestic undulations and streams with a single brushstroke. Kano Eitoku, Hasegawa Tohaku, Maruyama Okyo, Katsushika Hokusai, and others.
What is your biggest design work?
The large tree that covers the screen and the undulating branches and leaves that surround it, as represented by Eitoku Kano's "Hinokizu Byobu(Cypress Trees Screen)". The rippling, raging river represented by "Hozugawa Folding Screen" by Okyo Maruyama. Hokusai Katsushika's "Fugaku Sanjurokkei/Kanagawa Okinamiura" is known overseas as "The Great Wave" because of its huge waves that seem to engulf the entire space. These motifs of organic forms of nature, with their irregular shapes and dynamic brushstrokes, create a flow in the space and beautiful depth and expanse.
Who is your favourite designer?
I continue to work on designs every day, believing that my most outstanding works are those that have yet to be realized, but will be realized in the future.
Would you tell us a bit about your lifestyle and culture?
I believe that the way to become a better designer is not to be satisfied with one's current situation, not to be satisfied with one's past work, and to continue striving to create better work.
Would you tell us more about your work culture and business philosophy?
I think he wanted to be a sculptor or a contemporary artist, etc. In that case, he would have wanted to be an artist who could create art that has eternity.

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