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.
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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.
INDEX
Switching moods with a playlist of background music at work
Celeina：Mr.Iwaya, when you are asked to do a job, where do you start out?
Iwaya: I love music in general, including techno, so when I get a job, the first thing I do is make a playlist of background music for the job. If it’s a serious, rigid corporate project, I play ambient music, classical music, or contemporary music, and if it’s a flashy entertainment project, I play EDM.
Takano: That’s very interesting. Do you make your playlists public?
Celeina: It would be fun to link the playlist with the work you have done, like a sort of answer key.
Iwaya: I have not made the playlist public, and I had never thought of making it public, but it would certainly be interesting.
Celeina: I’ve been asking this question to a variety of people this week, but do you have a consistent focus in creating your work?
Iwaya：I place importance on finding the overlap between what I want to do in design and what the client wants to do in that work, and enjoying that work to the fullest. If I don’t enjoy the work, I don’t think anyone will enjoy it when it is released to the world, so no matter what kind of work I do, I consistently search for the aspects I enjoy and pursue them.
Takano: That is very important. Mr.Yoshizaki, who also appeared on the show yesterday, said, “I enjoyed it so much that it became my job as I was absorbed in it.
Celeina：It’s like they say, “Love is the key to success. Now, I would like to play a song. I asked Mr. Iwaya to choose a song that he would like everyone to listen to together on the radio at this time. What song would it be?
Iwaya： I wanted to play a song by an artist who has influenced me the most, so I brought my favorite song from Aphex Twin’s “Flim” that fits the mood of the evening.
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I was strongly influenced by “2001: A Space Odyssey,” which I saw in elementary school.
Takano: Since today’s theme is film, we have a lot of topics related to movies, and I understand that you also frequently watch movies. What kind of films do you watch?
Iwaya: My favorite is Stanley Kubrick. When I was in elementary school, my teacher, who was a science fiction fanatic, showed me “2001: A Space Odyssey”. There was almost no dialogue, and it wasn’t something I could understand by watching it. I was the kind of kid who had only seen “Doraemon” movies until then, but I had the sense that I had seen something amazing.
Takano: Did you have any friends around you in elementary school who were similarly stung?
Iwaya: No, they were all a stunned. But the feeling I had then stayed with me for a long time, and as I grew up, I dug various Stanley Kubrick movies, so I was strongly influenced by him.
Takano: As a designer, it seems that screen composition and other aspects of your work are also influenced by you.
Iwaya: That’s right. Stanley Kubrick originally came from a cameraman’s background, so no matter where he takes pictures, they are always beautifully finished.
Takano: Lastly, do you have any memorable movie lines?
Iwaya: “Blister!” which was released in 2000 and starred Hideaki Ito. Hideaki Ito plays the role of a figure collector whose life is falling apart because he collects too many figures, and a line that a fellow figure fanatic said to him really stuck with me.He says, “Collecting is learning,” and there is a scene where he says this to the main character who collects figurines and ends up being self-satisfied. He says, “It is a process of self-improvement through the experience of collecting”. I thought this was a message from the director that we must do something new with the knowledge and experience gained through collecting, and the line really stuck with me.
Takano: It’s a line that makes sense when I look at Mr. Iwatani’s scrapbook.
Celeina: “FIST BUMP” Today we welcomed Tamio Iwaya, a graphic designer who works under the name GraphersRock. Thank you very much.
GRAND MARQUEE
J-WAVE (81.3FM) Mon-Thu 16:00 – 18:50
Navigator: Shinya Takano, Celeina Ann
