At "ART UP" within the Men's Creators section on the 2nd floor Isetan Shinjuku Store, Men's Building , graphic designer MACCIU will be holding a solo exhibition titled "CHOICE" starting September 2nd (Wednesday). MACCIU's activities span a wide range of fields, both domestically and internationally, including working with manufacturers, public facilities, books, television programs, and the music industry. His recent collaboration with Nike is still fresh in people's minds. This time, we spoke with MACCIU about his journey to becoming a graphic designer, his thoughts on the exhibition, and his vision for the future.

Through my passion and various encounters, I became a graphic designer.

--MACCIU began her creative activities while still in university. At the time, the designs she was making as a hobby were well-received, and before she knew it, it had become her job.



"It was right around the time social media was starting to become popular. I was using 'mixi' and 'Myspace,' and 'Myspace' was particularly interesting because it allowed me to rewrite HTML tags, had no restrictions on image size, and offered a high degree of freedom to modify pages. I often published things I created there. Because 'Myspace' was a social networking service centered on music and entertainment, my work was seen by many people in the music industry, such as musicians and DJs. As a result, I started receiving offers from these domestic and international artists to design album covers and merchandise, and that's how I naturally began my creative activities. At that time, I had only just started to learn about 'Adobe Illustrator' (image editing software), so at first I was using Microsoft Word and other programs to create designs by trial and error. I majored in history in college, so I don't think I was thinking about doing my current job at all back then."

—I've always enjoyed tinkering with computers.


"Ever since my parents bought me a Windows PC, I've been playing around on the internet and have always gotten all my information from it. It was so much fun, and I looked at all sorts of websites. I think I was looking at the internet instead of reading magazines. Magazines are text information collected by people, so they felt a bit like strategy guides, and I preferred discovering things I liked on my own rather than relying on information edited and provided by someone else. Around the same time that MySpace became popular, club culture was in its heyday with electronic music, and party photos were all the rage. Even within MySpace, which had many DJ users, I was seeing more and more photos of clubgoers and performers. I was overwhelmed by the rawness and the enthusiastic people depicted in those photos, and I started going out to clubs and taking pictures myself. Even at home, I was constantly getting information about club culture through social media, so it was a very natural progression. At the same time as taking party photos, I also started designing flyers, and that's how my career really started in the club culture scene."

—Whenever you want to do something, you act immediately. You were a complete beginner when it came to handling cameras, but even then, your desire to do it won out.

"MySpace was the catalyst that introduced me to party photographers active around the world at the time. I really loved the sense of distance and atmosphere they captured in their photographs, and that's how I became fascinated by their world. The photographer who particularly influenced me was Instax photographer Yasumasa Yonehara. Yonehara is a photographer who creates a unique sense of distance with his models, and he often took party photos, so I started imitating his style and actively communicating with people who came to parties while taking pictures. Also, Yonehara himself originally started his career as an editor and began his photography career through practical experience in the field, so I found that background very interesting."

—He said he liked being able to directly experience the atmosphere of the set by actually doing it. As he did it more and more, that influence became apparent in his work.

"I was happy to get reactions from people. When I actually went to clubs and handed out flyers I designed, I got a lot of responses. I enjoyed that direct feedback. My designs improved through communication with people, so in that sense, I think putting it into practice changed my work. I think I'll continue to change as I gain more different experiences."