Are you familiar with the architectural and design firm "DDAA / DDAA LAB"? They handled the interior design for Hender Scheme 's Osaka store "Sukima Osaka," one of the hot topics last year, and also provided furniture for the new store of the brand everyone/EveryOne, which is a highlight of this pop-up event. Their recent achievements are too numerous to list, including the exhibition of 100 variations of Alvar Aalto's masterpiece "Stool 60" at the Kyoto City Kyocera Museum of Art. Their collaboration with artist Yu Nagaba also garnered attention.

The representative of "DDAA / DDAA LAB" is Daisuke Motoki. This time, we interviewed him just before his pop-up store at Isetan Shinjuku Store, Men's Building . And in the second half, Yu Nagaba appears as a special guest (!). We had a frank conversation about everything from his past work to this pop-up store.

"DDAA LAB" and the philosophy of Daisuke Motoki

—First, let's talk about the "DDAA LAB" initiative. Could you tell us about its history and developments so far?


Motoki : DDAA is an architectural and design firm that receives requests for client work and projects, and then provides designs and ideas in response. We also run another organization called DDAA LAB, where we don't do client work, but rather projects that are more self-initiated, where we proactively conduct research and prototyping.

--This year, Hender Scheme 's performance at Sukima Osaka also generated a lot of buzz.

Motoki: This is a project under the name "DDAA," but we've had many connections with Hender Scheme in recent years, including designing the interior of their office and showroom in Kuramae, and exhibiting at their gallery, "Sukima." As for Sukima Osaka, we were asked to do it because they found a good property suitable for their first directly managed store in the Kansai region.

—The interior, which is an old wooden single-story building that has been "renovated," is also unique.


Because the original condition of the space was excellent, the walls and ceiling were left almost entirely as they were. On top of that, white fixtures for the products were installed, creating a new layer over the existing walls. This is also a spatial interpretation of Hender Scheme 's manufacturing methodology. It's a design approach that presents new value and perspectives on existing conditions, similar to how they recreated the shape of classic sneakers in leather, or how they added leather handles to existing bags in their collaboration with THE NORTH FACE.

Instead of a uniform texture, we wanted the white fixtures to have a nuanced white that could be seen up close, so we finished them with a resin that was mixed with sand to create a smooth, viscous consistency. It has a glaze-like texture, and some parts are dripping from the edges like icicles.

"DDAA LAB" × Hender Scheme

—What kind of items will be available at this pop-up store?

There's a series called "Belt Furniture" that uses only acrylic sheets and cargo securing belts for transport, without using wooden nails or adhesives, and I designed a side table and shelf using Hender Scheme products for the belt portion of that series.


—Belt Furniture is also one of your representative works, isn't it, Mr. Motoki?

Motoki: Many of the designs we've created feature distinctive joints and connections. This series is one of them; by combining transparent materials with the parts that connect them, the way they are joined becomes the most symbolic feature.

"DDAA LAB" × everyone/EveryOne

--This pop-up will also feature the unveiling of everyone/EveryOne, a brand created by Ryo Miyoshi, formerly of 1LDK.


Motoki: Last year, the everyone store opened, and they're using some of the furniture we designed for the interior. For this pop-up, we came up with a product for everyone's sweatshirts.

One is a chest of drawers for sweatshirts, with just one drawer perfectly sized to fit folded sweatshirts. The other is a hanger shaped like a musical triangle, which functions as both furniture and an object. When not in use, it can be displayed like a relief, and of course, it can also be used as a hanger.



►Regarding the sales method for everyone on Wednesday, January 11th

With artist Yu Nagaba

--I'm really looking forward to working with Mr. Nagaba.

I've known Mr. Motoki Nagaba for about 10 years now. We often work together, with him designing the venue for my solo exhibitions and creating art objects.


—How did you meet Mr. Motoki, Mr. Nagaba?

Nagaba and I originally met through a mutual acquaintance, and we've had a long relationship, all things considered, since I asked the architectural firm where Motoki-san used to work to design the interior of my house. I've also had him help me with exhibitions three times. Painting is a two-dimensional expression, so I was experimenting with how to present it in a three-dimensional, spatial way, and Motoki-san helped me with a lot of things.

—There were some very interesting attempts, such as placing panels that were about the same size as a human being.

Nagaba's exhibition was held in a unique location—a multi-tenant building scheduled for demolition —so, together with Motoki-san, we devised a way to encourage visitors to be more aware of the space rather than just looking at the paintings. We placed life-sized panels depicting figures and mirrors in the space, creating an effect where my artwork and the reflections of the viewers in the mirrors would blend together as they walked around and stopped. Although the exhibition only lasted for three days, many people came to see it.

“DDAA LAB” x Mr. Yu Nagaba

--I've heard that neon objects will be featured at the pop-up.

Motoki: This is actually an homage to the work of Le Corbusier. Le Corbusier's furniture pieces are named with letters followed by a number, such as LC14 (LC being Le Corbusier's initials), and number 14 is a simple box. Nagaba and I discussed how it would be good to have something ambiguous that could be seen as a box, furniture, or art all at once.

We used Le Corbusier's Modulor system for box dimensions and created an acrylic box containing neon signage that represents Nagaba's artwork.


Before settling on the Nagaba LC14 homage, Donald Judd was one of the ideas that came up. Donald Judd creates furniture alongside his art pieces, and while his furniture has some kind of function, his art is an object from which function has been removed. I thought it would be interesting to create such a piece together with Motoki-san.


--This "DDAA LAB" pop-up features a lot of collaborations with Mr. Nagaba, Hender Scheme , and everyone, but you also can't miss the ARTEK stools.


Motoki: This project is based on the extremely simple "Stool 60," a masterpiece designed by Alvar Aalto, and aims to easily add convenient and diverse functions to it. It was originally an idea conceived for a space for a startup community. It was a somewhat unusual place, where the required functions changed daily—some days it was a workshop, some days a meeting, and other days a large group gathered for a lecture. Because the required form changed every day, I came up with a system that would allow for the addition of necessary functions to a simple stool. I came up with about 10 ideas for that space, but I thought it might be interesting to continue, so I ended up with 331 ideas, actually produced 100 of them, and announced one each day on Instagram. That led to exhibitions at museums in Japan and various other places to showcase the work, and in 2023 we plan to tour Europe and Asia.

--There are people familiar with Isetan Shinjuku Store, Men's Building involved, so it's really packed with content. It's going to be a very luxurious pop-up event.

As it was a department store, there were of course various regulations, but I think we were able to enjoy creating the space, including those regulations. It's a place that everyone knows, so I hope we can use that to our advantage and do something interesting in the future. For now, I hope everyone enjoys this pop-up.