A circle of friends connected by goo touch! The “FIST BUMP” corner of the radio program “GRAND MARQUEE” features people who live and enjoy Tokyo in a relay format.
On October 19, graphic designer Tamio Iwaya, who works under the name “GraphersRock,” will appear. We talked with him about why he became a graphic designer, his scrapbook of inspirations, his favorite movies, and more.
INDEX
Graphic design as the contact point between two thoughts
Celeina (MC): First, let me introduce your profile. Mr. Iwaya is based on cyberpunk and techno culture, and under the name “GraphersRock,” he does graphic work in a wide variety of media, including CD jackets, apparel, merchandise, and advertising media.His main work includes designing CD jackets for Dempagumi.inc and tofubeats, collaborating with PUMA and Adidas on sports apparel and sneakers, designing uniforms for the J League team Gamba Osaka, and designing motorcycles for Harley-Davidson.
Takano (MC): I was very impressed to hear that you are also involved with Maltine Records, which I have listened to for a long time. I think it would be easier to understand if you could search for “GraphersRock” and listen to “FIST BUMP” while looking at their works.
Celeina：When I look at the GraphersRock website, I am impressed by the way you incorporate your own colors into every collaboration. What was it that got you interested in graphic design?
Iwaya: I didn’t have a strong “I’m going to be a graphic designer”. I had been playing with origami, crafts, drawing, and making things since I was a child, and I had always thought that in the future I would work to make things, no matter what they were. Then, in 1985, there was the “Tsukuba Expo (International Science and Technology Fair),” which instilled in me at the age of about 5 or 6 a sense of anticipation of the future, the wonder of technology, and a kind of omnipotence of technology, and I became interested in computers and technology.
When I was in college or so, during the DTP boom of the 1990s, I was finally able to use a computer to create graphics, and this led me to graphic design, as I wanted to use my beloved computer 24/7, and I wanted a job where I could create something.
Takano: The fact that “Tsukuba Expo” was your original experience is connected to the futuristic worldview that your work has.
Celeina：You mentioned that you liked computers and technology. Is there anything that influenced your style?
Iwaya: This also goes back to the “Tsukuba Expo,” but the 1990s was the time when a lot of techno and rave culture was imported to Japan. I spent my teenage years right around that time, so that culture became my original experience in creating something.
INDEX
It is interesting to find value in something that is nothing.
Celeina：Today, you brought to the studio a scrapbook that you have been creating, Mr. Iwaya.
Takano: First of all, the first page is a package of Chupa Chups.
Celeina：Do you mean that this scrapbook is your source of inspiration?
Iwaya: It is truly an idea book. I collect a lot of random things every day.
Takano: I would like to go through the story one by one, but there is not enough time.
Celeina: Is this a receipt from Toys “R” Us in the U.S.?
Iwaya: Yes, it is. That is a book that collects only receipts and vouchers.
Takano: Is this the American version of Lotto 6?
Iwaya:This is a list of lotto 6 entries that I picked up when I went to the United States.
Celeina: You also collect airplane tickets and other items, but are you concerned about the font and so on?
Iwaya:Tickets and such are not art, are they? I feel beauty in something that is not made as a work of art. I collect a lot of random things every day, as if I were picking up a beautiful stone that had fallen on a riverbank.
Takano: That’s interesting. It’s like there is unexpected beauty in things that were not created with some arbitrary goal in mind.
Iwaya: I feel that it is fun to find value in things that have no value.
Takano: You have a great eye. The one I am looking at is a package with a lid of “Demae Iccho”.
Iwaya: This is a British “Demae Iccho”.
Takano: Is this from England? It says “Demae Iccho” in Japanese. It’s very interesting and I want to look at it more. Do you flip through scrapbooks on a daily basis and get inspired by them?
Iwaya: I look at them on a daily basis. From a designer’s point of view, I want to find some value in them. I also find it interesting that there is beauty that can be seen by uncovering and collecting unappreciated items, and finding value in things that have no value.
