Trends Are Announced. Icons Are Discovered.
I don’t drink Coca-Cola. I study it. Not as business. As an object. In 1886 it was just a drink at a pharmacy counter. Five cents. One formula among many. Nothing suggested perma
Secrecy as Creative Freedom
Secrecy used to mean distance. Something closed or inaccessible.Now it feels almost necessary. We live in a time where everything asks to be explained immediately. Ideas are shared
Primal Fear
Boxing is the only sport I still occasionally watch on television. Yet over the past several years—perhaps longer—the world around it has grown increasingly strange, gradually
The Night Above the Desert
The story begins somewhere across the Sea of Japan (???????? ????). Why this title? What is it about? That part remains a secret—for now.
Shu Uemura
Sometimes a person’s death makes his or her accomplishments feel even more remarkable. This was the case for me with Shu Uemura, who passed away on December 29, 2007. I used to t
Yellow Boots
The image on the left was probably taken more than two decades ago. The one on the right was taken a few years ago. Who is she? – Her name is Sayoko Yamaguchi (山口小夜子).
Villa dall’Ava
Several years ago, when Rem Koolhaas was one of the most talked about architects in the world, I had the rare opportunity to briefly stay in one of the houses he designed in Paris.
An Encounter
A slamming sound followed by a loud, angry voice broke the silence of the night. I turned my head towards the voice. A man in a white shirt holding a thick black binder was about t