Mr. Murakami is welcoming Hublot in his studio, for announcing the launch of the second edition of Hublot Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami.
After two collaborations, what is your impression of Hublot?
I believe HUBLOT is a company that takes watchmaking seriously. It struck me that HUBLOT is a remarkable company that deserves respect for its utterly sincere attitude toward manufacturing when I visited their headquarters in Switzerland.
Do you feel that there is something in common between your artwork and Hublot’s DNA “The Art of Fusion”?
I always try to keep my mind fresh when I collaborate and cross paths with different industries and creators. When I look at HUBLOT’s past collaborations and watches, they always seem to create new stories that connect the present and the future. That is what I strongly believe we have in common.
What link do you have with watchmaking?
I can’t imagine having any link with watchmaking since I can’t create something as wonderful (as Hublot watches) myself. I learned a lot at HUBLOT Manufacture in Switzerland. Though I was only able to stay for several hours, I would have loved to stay for a couple of days to hear more explanation in depth.
As you can see, my studio is quite messy. I wish I could have a studio as organized as HUBLOT Manufacture.
Could you tell us what you were most particular about creating this watch?
We have had many meetings and reviewed many designs even despite the pandemic.
HUBLOT has shown me their relentless strive for excellence every single time, which is nothing short of amazing.
What were your thoughts when you saw the second edition of the Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami in the Sapphire Rainbow? How did you feel compared to the All Black version?
Actually, this was the image that came to my mind when Hublot initially approached me with the idea of collaboration.
With previous All Black model, I was in a sense working backwards to get to this point in my storytelling. So I’m very glad that what I had first envisioned has now been realized in the second project.
What did you think of a rotating flower when Hublot proposed the idea?
It reminds me of fidget spinners that were popular few years ago, but the way it spins inside the sapphire crystal is absolutely gorgeous and incomparable. It’s a wonderful design! And it’s just like the radiance of the rainbow itself.
Also, we are all very interested to know what is the origin of the iconic flower of yours, and what does it mean to you?
In Japan, there is an artistic tradition of depicting beauty of nature called “Kachōfŭgetsu” and it refers to flowers, birds, wind, and the moon. Since Japan is very rich in nature, I think the Japanese historically had a tendency to depict nature rather than people when painting. While there are many portraits in the West, there are more nature-inspired landscape paintings in Japan, and that’s why I also wanted to paint flowers, but in order to establish myself in the Western art world, I needed to paint portraits. So I invented and developed a character that is a flower with a face, or a flower in nature that is anthropomorphized.
What is your favorite artwork of yours, and why ?
That would be works with Mr. DOB, like the one you see there. Early in my career, “creating meaningless characters” was a very important theme for me, and I had created several characters. My work is either based on such characters or abstract paintings, and the characters tell various stories beyond my intention when I communicate with people in other countries, so all of my character works are my favorites.
And finally, how would you describe your art?
With our second collaboration, this artwork serves as a theme, and I made it much more colorful than usual. The idea for this piece originated in the collaboration with HUBLOT. Even the faces are multi-colored. The gradation of the faces from whitish to brightly colorful was inspired by this collaboration.
