"I don't have any particular goal. I just want to raise the value of flowers and spread their appeal. Not just at Isetan, but all over the world." Azuma Makoto is a very mysterious flower artist. He binds, freezes, and launches flowers and plants into space. While he presents provocative and striking works, he also records and archives the names of flowers that appear and disappear as a result of selective breeding (this spring, the second volume of his botanical encyclopedia, "ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FLOWERS 2," was released). He has also received numerous invitations from prestigious fashion houses. Most recently, he created an exhibit at Hermès' special exhibition "Leather Forever" held in Ueno, Tokyo, integrating his signature pine work, "Shiki," with the worldview of bags. He also created the entire "Flower" zone of the Dries Van Noten Inspiration exhibition currently being held at MoMu - Antwerp Museum of Fashion (last year, it was held at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris).

Then, in March of this year, Azuma Makoto opened his first department store store, "FLOWER OF ROMANCE," on the 5th floor of the Isetan Shinjuku store. Its unusual location in the center of the living room floor has attracted attention as a new concept flower shop. The store not only accepts orders for bouquets and custom-made flower arrangements, but also offers a lineup not available at its home store, "JARDINS des FLEURS."

The storefront at FLOWER OF ROMANCE is dotted with pressed flowers and smaller versions of the Bottle Flowers sold at JARDINS des FLEURS, all of which are designed to be easily incorporated into the living environment. Another new product developed for this store opening is the "Tear Vase," a small vase for a single flower created by the Flower Vase Research Institute in collaboration with an Arita ware workshop.

Some may wonder why Azuma, who has been stoically pursuing flowers as haute couture for the past 15 years, has decided to open a shop in a department store. However, through an interview with Azuma Makoto, it became clear that this new shop opening marks the beginning of the next step for him.


---Continued from "Confronting the life and death of flowers. Azuma Makoto's 'killing and bringing to life' flower art spreading around the world."