We want people to feel more familiar with art. Designer Takahiro Okazawa’s vision of future value

Creating a place for people to easily get involved in art

Celeina (MC): Joining us today is designer Takahiro Okazawa, who was recommended by photographer RK, thank you.

Takano （MC）: RK said that you are “the coolest senior in Tokyo for me”.

Okazawa: I am honored.

Celeina: Mr.Okazawa debuted as a model in the 1990s and has also been a designer since 2001. He is currently working as a designer for INQUIRING and RAZOR. I am curious about the art and NFT sharing marketplace “STRAYM” that you launched in 2020. Can you briefly tell us what it is about?

Okazawa: This was launched after talking with three friends of mine for about a year starting in 2019, and we wanted to expand the appeal and culture of art. The word “STRAYM” is also spelled upside down as “MYARTS”.

Celeina：Wow!

Okazawa: We will be co-owning and selling through the digital world, and since it is a service that accesses the other side of the digital world, I thought I would start with a gimmicky name like that.

Takano: What genres of art do you actually handle?

Okazawa: Some famous artists are Banksy and KAWS, and the photographer Wolfgang Tillmans. We also have artists from Japan. Basically, I exhibit works for secondary sale, and in some cases I also exhibit works for primary sale, or works that I have commissioned an artist to make.

Celeina: I took a look at your website, and there are items priced as low as 169 yen, does this mean that you can become a co-owner?

Okazawa：Yes. We started with the concept of joint ownership, or joint ownership. We made the initial entrance as low as possible, and made it possible to buy rights for as little as 100 yen. The 169 yen you mentioned earlier is an indication that we started at 100 yen and the unit price has increased through various transactions.

Celeina：So you are saying that the unit price went up by 69 yen. A bit like a stock.

Okazawa: We want people who cannot afford expensive art to get a little more involved in art. I think that by paying for art, they themselves will become a little closer to the art, and in the awareness that they own the art, they will talk to others about the artist and his/her work in their own way. So I started the service with the intention of getting people to get involved and enjoy the service on as low a scale as possible.

Takano: It’s great because you can casually talk about “I own it” with people. By the way, it’s amazing that the price starts at 100 yen.

Celeina: Mr.Okazawa, how do you see the potential of NFT and Web3?

Okazawa: I am not that familiar with this service. However, I recognize NFT as an advanced technology that can be used as digital proof. In my opinion, it is a record of high technology that remains properly, or perhaps it is a useful technology.

Takano: That’s right. I would like everyone to visit the “STRAYM” website and take a look.

The Present and Future Value of Photography

Celeina: On September 10, you curated the one-day photo exhibition “TOKYO PHOTOGRAPHER’S EXHIBITION 2023” in Shinjuku.

Okazawa: I was in charge of curation as part of the “STRAYM” event planning, and I selected six people: Kyoji Takahashi, Meisa Fujishiro, Keiichi Nitta, Yasuyuki Takaki, P.M.KEN, and Masafumi Sanai. In my opinion, they are the leading photographers in Japan, so I offered them this time.

Takano: What was the content of the project?

Okazawa: Originally, I had the opportunity to work with them as a model and subject in the 1990s and 2000s, and I think they were quite influential on fashion and creative people in the West. So I selected and exhibited photos of each of these people.

There is a members-only floor on the 5th floor of the Kabukicho Tower called “EXSTION” that has a wellness theme, and we held a one-day photo exhibition, an event and party where we sold and displayed the photos.

Celeina: I heard that there were works for sale, but I thought it was great that if you bought a photo, you could get the right to have your portrait taken by the photographer, and you could also get NFT.

Okazawa: In the “STRAYM” project, it is very important for people to buy photos, but this time I was thinking about what the value of photography is as a theme. I wondered if the purchase of the physical art of photography is the value of the present, and having a photographer take the photos is the value of the future.

We wanted to offer a mixture of both, and each photographer agreed to participate. So, after the purchase, the photographers will take portraits, and the purchasers are allowed to NFT the portraits.

Celeina：Future value is a very positive and important concept. Both this NFT and “STRAYM” have a part of future value that may increase in price in the future, don’t they?

Okazawa: I would say that we should enjoy such values little by little. At auctions these days, the price goes up tremendously, and you hear the news the next day, but I hope that people will have an exciting experience by getting involved in a closer way.

Celeina: That sounds great. I would like to hear what you have to say, but I will send you one song first. Okazawa-san has chosen a song for us. What kind of song is it?

Okazawa: It’s called “Dream State” by an artist named Dennis. I listen to a lot of mixes of music I like on SoundCloud, etc., and I usually search for the ones I like on YouTube. I’m not that familiar with the song, but I chose it because I like the nice sky jacket with the clouds and the pleasant feeling of the song.

Celeina： Let’s listen to it together then.