Starting out in the late '90s with designs for Jean Paul Gaultier perfumes and Issey Miyake's Le Foud Issey and Pleats Please Issey Miyake stores, Gwenael Nicolas has recently worked on store designs for luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Fendi, and Berluti, as well as Uniqlo's Ginza and Shinjuku Megastores. It's not widely known that he's also based in Japan. This May, marking 25 years since he established his base in Japan, he published a monograph, "CURIOSITY ESSENCE," through Loft Publications in Barcelona, Spain. At a launch party held at Daikanyama T-Site, an original perfume in a hand-blown glass bottle with the same name as the book was also unveiled. This interview took place amid a busy schedule, including interior design for the new commercial facility "Ginza 6-chome District 10 Type 1 Urban Redevelopment Project," scheduled to open next fall on the site of the former Matsuzakaya Ginza store; renovations for Fendi's Rome flagship store this year; a luxury restaurant in Dubai; and an exhibition in Paris. This time, while we were discussing energy and gravity, there was a sudden, surprising 5.6 magnitude earthquake. This coincidental connection with the theme of his design led us to start the conversation. --Nicolas's designs have a floating image. I love floating things. When we previously exhibited Swarovski at the Milan Salone, we placed Swarovski crystals embedded with LEDs inside balloons and made them float in the air. At a party, we even had people eat floating food. If you think about it, transporting 5 tons of cargo in a 20-ton truck is ridiculous. Without gravity, there's no need for it. I'm currently thinking about a zero-gravity car.

--In zero gravity, an earthquake wouldn't matter, because everything would float.

Yes, that's right. In modern society, conflict and clashes are not allowed. Pulling each other with tension is also not allowed. By making things lighter, we can get closer to a state of zero gravity. But the book I just released is too heavy. What I say and what I do are different (laughs).

--When did you start preparing for this book?

I started preparing this collection two years ago. Roughly every ten years, I release a book summarizing my work and ideas, along with a perfume, with a set theme. I also released a book and perfume about ten years ago. That's because a book takes about an hour to read, but a scent can be conveyed in one second. My goal isn't to nostalgically showcase my past work, but rather to organize and reset my thoughts on what I can do from now on. I have no desire to do the same things as in the past, so I hope that people will see this and gain a broad understanding of what I can do. Many of my current projects, including the one I'm working on, are large and complex, making them difficult to understand. However, like the ripples that form after a drop of water, I want to expand into the next generation, just like the design of this perfume. I wanted to convey that I'm always exploring how simple something can be made into an essential design at a glance.

--So books and perfumes are both communication media?

Communication is important in design, but the world is shrinking rapidly, and cultural barriers are disappearing. For this reason, I'm always thinking about what kind of design is needed to convey information in a second. I think that anyone, anywhere in the world, whether an adult or a five-year-old, can understand the beauty of a falling drop of water with this perfume bottle, regardless of age. I need to find a design that everyone can understand. I believe that this means it needs to be conveyed without editing, regardless of who photographed it, including information published in magazines and other media. I always tell the young designers I work with that the background of the design, the process of where the core theme comes from, is important.

--You also say in your book that you've been searching for the "art of encounter."

The job of design is to create an interface. Whether it's a product or a space, I design so that people can meet. I work with luxury brands in my retail career, and have also worked with Uniqlo for some time. It's the same in the category of fashion, but what makes spatial design different is the "encounter."


■interview & text: Noda Tatsuya

--Next time (2/4), we'll hear about the differences between designing spaces for fast fashion and luxury brands.