the über cool creative movement 'koi klub' boasts a
collection of work, which includes art pieces,
sneaker designs, a magazine and a free monthly
club-night - from which the iniative began.

designboom caught up with the berlin-based japanese
designer and asked him to shed some light on his activities
which he calls 'koi klub'.

background:
after working at an american company in tokyo
for 8 years (to be more specific, selling shaving razors!),
I left japan to travel for a while, which eventually brought
me to berlin in 2000, where I have stayed since. for me
berlin is an amazing city where you define people not by
where they live or the company they work for, but by who
they are as a person - the music they listen to, food they
eat and other interests...
I have a strong feeling that this is the the biggest influence
on my work.

on koi klub:
in 2002, I began to organize a free monthly club-night:
'koi klub' a place where creative people could get together.
each edition of the club features a new artwork created
by zen yoshimoto. this then lead to the publication of a
fanzine: 'koi mag' in 2003, through this, I made my first
contact with shoe manufacturer onisuka tiger (asics), germany
who became sponsors. this relationship developed further
and I now design shoes for them, most recently the
'fabre koi' model released last month (february 2007).

on the various 'koi' projects:
the work is always evolving due to my creative
friends who have been kind enough to collaborate with me.
it is more the results of the communication between my
friends and me - than me alone.

which have been your favorite projects so far?
I just finished designing the third ‘koi sneaker collection’
for onitsuka tiger, which will come out spring 2008...
so this is my favorite right now!

what is your daily routine?
e-mailing, cooking, meeting people and reading.
I’ve never really had a 'routine' since I left tokyo.
amazingly, I do different things every day.

do you have any advice for the young?
go with the flow and don't watch TV!



related links:
http://www.koiklub.de
http://www.onitsukatiger.com