This time, Yamagata Dantsu is proud to announce a new collection from the next designer, following Ken Kiyoyuki Okuyama and Kengo Kuma, is the world renowned creative director, Kashiwa Sato. After being introduced to Yamagata Dantsu by Ken Kiyoyuki Okuyama, he was impressed by our carpets while visiting our workshop and seeing our craftsmen at work, firsthand – thus, beginning our collaboration.
Kashiwa Sato is always pushing and expanding himself through many facets of design, be it graphic or interior design, art, architecture, and now with us. Symbolic and powerful design meets “A Warm Welcome, for Every Foot”.
Kashiwa SatoCreative Director
Born in 1965. Graduated from Tama Art University in Graphic Design.
Founded “Samurai” in 2000.
Involved in many enterprises creating global brands and “total products” and ushering in a new era of interior design.
Special Guest Lecture at Keio University 2017, Agency for Cultural Envoy for Affairs and Cultural Exchange.
An interview about the story behind the designs, introduction to Yamagata Dantsu, and future plans.
When I first came to Yamagata, I just loved how the feeling of time passing through the beautiful nature felt like a wonderful setting for craftsmen. I was taken aback by watching the craftsmen weaving the carpets by hand, one stitch at a time, and seeing the final product was simply amazing. I could hardly believe how vibrant the colors were, how many colors were available, the feel of the material, and the level of skill involved in the making of every carpet. I had already made designs for carpets before, but Yamagata Dantsu is of such high quality, that I was able to realize a new concept for utilizing the carpet as the central focal point from an interior design standpoint. This possibility was a brand new feeling for me; “Carpet as the Key Point of Interior Design”. This idea made way to the new design, which I will continue to expand upon.
At first, it was really difficult for me to incorporate nature as the central theme of the concept. But, working in the field of visual communication, I thought of doing an iconic and symbolic design of tying nature into space, and expanding from there. Space is mysterious yet powerful, so using the outline of the sun would be a symbolic motif, that would be essential to this design. I think that this design is perfect for being the center piece of a room design. Instead of simply using a direct nature design, I wanted to condense the feeling of nature into the carpet and let the true skill of Yamagata Dantsu craftsmen speak for itself. By directly working with the craftsmen, I was able to get the perfect gradation of a solar eclipse for this striking design.
In my youth, I always thought art and design were at odds with one another. But I found that, with a one of a kind piece of art or even traditional crafts, to expand on the possibilities of design, needing a new methodology of design or a new technique, such as applying art principals, was completely valid and effective. And with the advent of the internet, ideas and information can be easily disseminated, thus convincing me that this approach was a way of personal branding. Because of this, recently interior design and art work have become a part of my technique, thus expanding my breadth of expression. It's very interesting to me to see just how far that framework will go. In my opinion, Japan has so many skills and techniques to use and extrapolate on as a creator to help different challenges and to be helpful to society.