Shinji Nakaba’s Ever-changing World

As the son of two dressmakers, Nakaba learned the importance of cultivating a craft and exploring beauty from an early age. In high school, he learned to sew, making himself pants and shirts, some of which he still dabbles in now, but didn’t feel entirely comfortable with the properties of cloth— the way fabric can grow and shrink, nor with the hustle and bustle of the fashion world. He turned instead to working with more finite minerals and metals, with which he could take his time to craft. He discovered quickly that the jewelry world was less so a world of status and symbols, and instead a creative realm of self-expression.

Developing an interest in antique jewelry and an understanding of the basics of traditional jewelry-making at a vocational school, he eventually went all-in on his artistic pursuits, selling his car to buy tools, and turning a corner of his room into a store. Deeply entrenched in the hippie and counterculture movements of his time, he officially began working as a jewelry artist in 1974. Now, Nakaba turns to the future. Drawing upon his lifelong studies and lived experience, his work opens a bridge across time and serves as a capsule of our current moment.

Your body of work is so vast, and yet so distinct. What narrative do you aim to build with each piece?

In the late 80s I was wondering how to act to establish my own style in the world of contemporary jewelry. I read a lot of books and experienced breathing, yoga and meditation, and the answer at that time was "animals and plants continue to produce works without thinking about making good seeds.”

I didn't think too much about making only particularly good works, and although I don't know the deep meaning, I started making works with the ideas that came to my mind in the morning. Instead of criticizing the ideas that came to my mind, I tried to put them into shape.

It's been over 30 years since then, and when I look at my works, I think they're different, but I can feel a unique sense of unity, direction, and concept.

You reference historical, mythological, and religious imagery across cultures. How do you choose your subjects and what is their significance to you?

The purpose of my expression is to obfuscate all boundaries— for myself, men and women, past and present, heaven and hell, life and death, good and evil, beauty and ugliness, fresh and realistic works. I thought there should be two extremes in one work in a hybrid state.

Technically, it seems ridiculous to carve abandoned plastic into a cameo brooch while learning to carve ancient gems. However, although it may seem like a stupid act, I think it is a very valuable. I’m attracted to this area and continue to make jewelry. I am also surprised and impressed by the fact that I hold exhibitions six times a year to keep up my standard of living and sell our works. I sometimes think, "If Mr. Nakaba was born in a dynasty in the past, it would be a shame that he was born in the present age, even though he was happy to be given a good job by the King." But I think this is a good age to be able to make and live my favorite works, thanks to the internet!

Tell me more a bit about the symbolism you use. Some pieces seem quite obvious, drawing from cultural iconography, while others seem extremely personal.

When I first discovered symbolism, it was quite a shock to me to find such a poetic and insightful painting in a figurative form, which gave me a sense of both purity and decadence, and I began to research the possibility of borrowing this style and applying it to modern art. The fact that I use mythological motifs and narrative forms in my jewelry is probably due to my unconscious mind, through which what I hate, and don’t intend to create may actually be what I want.

I have always been in love with the ancient sculptures and antique jewelry displayed in museums, but I have never been 100% immersed in them. I'm not interested in recreating the past as it was, I'm only satisfied with the work of an artist who lives in the 21st century. I know this is completely contradictory to what I said earlier, that I create my work on a moment's notice without any deep feeling, but it is my greatest hope, afterall, to contain two extremes of thought in a single artist.

What is the importance of beauty in your life? What role does it play in your work?

There is a saying, "When traveling in an ever-changing world, the only thing that matters is to radiate beauty.”

I get goosebumps when I read this sentence. I think this sentence is so important right now. I was able to walk through the misty mountains with beauty as my guide, beauty is what I need to survive, beauty is more of a survival kit for me than something to relax and appreciate.

When I say beauty, I mean fresh beauty. I believe that in beauty, we may find the epitome or blueprint of a society where human beings can be happy. It wasn't just something to look at and feel good about. I think it was Yoko Ono who said that art is a way of survival. Regardless of what she meant, for me, beauty is like a guide for humanity to survive. This is what I think when I look at contemporary art, but the horizon is expanding and people are starting to perceive things that were not considered beauty before as beauty. If we can find value in things and ideas that were previously thought to have no value, and if many people share a new civilization and sense of values, we may be able to break down the huge walls that people are running into, and new horizons will open up!

I've often been moved by works of art. However, I believe that true inspiration comes when a society or an economic system is facing a wall and is blocked in all directions, and you get a hint that there is another step waiting for you on the other side, and you break through the wall. It is the beauty that gives us the hint, the feeling that "this is how humans and the earth can continue to live. I think it is the sense of beauty that makes us intuitively feel this. That's what I meant when I said it was a guide to survival. I think beauty is the most necessary thing to overcome various obstacles such as the economy, the division of humanity, and to better coexist with the earth.

What would a world without walls look like to you?

The big barrier is simply that the capitalist economy has stopped working. The big barrier is that the capitalist economy simply doesn't work anymore, and causes more bad things than good. To me, breaking down barriers means creating or inventing a new economic system. A society or country that is divided or discriminated against will eventually decline or fall, because a society that does not have equal opportunities will not be able to produce the innovative systems and products that many people want, or, what I call fresh beauty.

My definition of beauty has two aspects: one is the sensory aspect of beauty that we see with our eyes, and the other is the concept of beauty or aesthetics, and what I mean by "fresh beauty" are those works of art that give us a sense of beauty that we have never seen before, or contain a new concept of beauty and a new order, which can be analyzed and applied to other fields to create crafts, lifestyles and industries with new values. For example

During the Muromachi period which was from 1336 to 1573 in Japan, a man revolutionized the world of tea, by incorporating the concepts of "Zen" and "wabi-sabi" into the tea ceremony, he created a new lifestyle of total art. His concept of beauty was to not seek perfection, but to find beauty in the slightest lack, in imperfect beauty, like connecting a great horse to a straw barn.

This is the very essence of wabicha. A metaphysical interpretation of this aesthetic would be to create a beauty that is out of balance by adding coarse items to a masterpiece, and to appreciate the aftermath. My main interest now is finding ways to modernize the beauty of the past and connect it to the future, and how to spread the values of the new age and coexistence with nature through jewelry.

You use elements of the natural world and human anatomy often in your work. What is the relationship between the two for you?

Yes, it's simply interesting, the human body is the universe, where my consciousness is riding on it, and there's nothing more interesting than a journey inside the body. That feeling grew when I started doing breathing exercises and meditation a long time ago.

Nature is my teacher, my museum, and it is very important to me that I get a lot of inspiration when I am in it, and I have endless ideas sometimes, but I think nature and my body are in harmony.

Okay, let’s talk body, particularly, skulls— your pearl-carved skull rings, necklaces, etc. are iconic within your ouvre. What is their significance to you?

I wanted to break the traditional idea of jewelry making. I did not want to be restricted by rules and traditions, which restricts creativity. By becoming an expert on traditional jewelry making, I wanted to utilize that skill to create something that is unconventional. For example, traditionally it is never ideal to carve pearls because it would ruin its integrity. I always thought pearls looked unnatural when polished to make them look smoother, to fix scars or scratches. Or when I tried to carve cultured pearls, the core would always emerge, and I ruined the pearls by peeling off the nacre. Even with knowing all these challenges, I’ve always had devilish thoughts of carving pearls in the back of my mind. Around 2010, I had some pearls that I got at an antique show that did not have a core, so I started carving as much as I wanted, and the result was absolutely stunning. I was so shocked by its beauty; however, I was not sure if this could be sellable or even durable to wear, so I asked my friend to wear it for a year. After one year, the skull looked even more interesting with a weathered surface. Also, it did not break, so I thought it might be possible to sell these! I’ve experimented with different types of materials to carve out skulls

I have also carved skulls in crystal, ivory, coral, and precious stones, but carved pearls are by far the most attractive and most beautiful. I am captivated by the unknown potential of pearls. I feel only pearls can make my idea of ephemeral beauty into reality. I also found the contradiction of an innocent pearl turning into a dark object to be even more fascinating. I'm beginning to think that pearls may have been born to be skulls, and I call the pearl skull, with its mysterious beauty, a fairy skull. I think innovation is the offspring of "outlaw" and "curiosity".

Your work seems to communicate that you find beauty in death— is that true?

I've been very interested in death and death-related things since I was a kid, and maybe the same, but in time we grow up, death becomes a horror, and we want to keep it as far away as possible. I think that making death a part of daily life leads to a better life. As I said several times, it is the artist's mission to eliminate, or blur, the line between life and death, and coming from a heart without division or discrimination, I think that’s how fresh and new innovations will be born. I think that is what is necessary for people, nature, and the earth to coexist.

So what do you believe happens after someone dies?

I have experienced a lot of crises in my life. The fact that I have been able to overcome several crises is due to luck, or mental action, or maybe there is "something", an unknown mechanism at work. I hope to get the answer one day.

I do not believe in an afterlife or reincarnation, but if you think about it on a molecular level, energy and matter repeat themselves. I think it can be said that we are reborn. I believe that when I die, I will turn into carbon, become part of the earth, and become the place where I was born. Until that day, I hope I can continue to make the inspiration that comes to my mind a reality.

Fashion

Happy 424 Day!

Simon Rasmussen — What's going on?

Guillermo Andrade — Right now we're just setting everything up.

So, what are you doing, is it a party?

Well, I kind of felt universally forced, right? Because 4/24/24, I was just like, I don’t really have a choice here. The stars also just kind of aligned, so to be honest, I got this settlement that came with a bunch of clothes so I had this idea to give back to the kids who fuck with us by allowing them to buy our shit first. Not handing stuff out for free, but to do it in a way where we could skip the middleman of the industry, so to speak, and not allow clothes to disappear into the abyss of Farfetch or whatever else. So what we’re going to do is a sort of warehouse sale, which we’ve never done before so that was really exciting for me. I didn’t want to do just another warehouse sale, so it’s like a sample sale turns rager. We teamed up with Adidas and a couple of other sponsors, then drinks, DJs, and a performance.

Sick, I love it.

Yeah. My dream sample sale. Also, it’s not just hoodies and t-shirts here in there, it’s proper collections from the past three seasons. I’m also not picking and choosing, trying to make it accessible, like this was the only way I could afford to buy shit when I was a kid, bro. Sample sales were the thing I looked forward to the most.

I feel you. In New York, there's the annual CDG sale, which is when I used to cop all my CDG.

The only time I could afford Rick. I flew to New York once for a Rick sample sale and I was like, Wow, I can't believe I got invited. And it was mental. I still have those pieces. I will never sell them. Not even because I got 'em cheap. It was also just really fun. Even on the flight to New York, I was like, I can't believe I'm going to New York for a sample sale, what a fucking loser I am. But it was like the adult version of when I was a kid and I was like, Wow, I can't believe I'm 20-something and I'm still doing the thing I was doing in high school. So I hope we can create moments like that for kids here in LA.

Yeah. I love that. It’s important to connect with them; they’re essentially creating the brand. If you don't have them, good luck.

I mean, yeah. Fuck, bro. It's cool that we've been around for this long. I mean, it got a little rocky there for a second I think, for all of us. So coming out of it, tomorrow is a celebration. And it’s like an odd day of the week. It's a Wednesday, super random. And now that we've set it up, the homies are all like, Yo, I'm coming. I'm coming. Let me jump on stage, let me do this, and that's really what it's always been about. It's not some other strategy to get likes on the internet.

That’s how the best things happen, you just couldn’t help yourself. It was intuitive.

Yeah, it all came together in a really nice way.

Would you say that’s how 424 started as well? I remember we met in like 2010 on Fairfax and I was visiting with Rasmus…

Oh bro, it’s probably the time when I started the branch… do you remember Cecilia from Black Dakini? She’s the one that introduced me to CIFF and honestly, I didn’t even care what she was doing, I was just like, I’m coming, I’ll go with you. She said she’d give me half of her booth and I said, Awesome count me in. At the time, I had just gotten my green card and I wasn't allowed to ever leave America, so Copenhagen was one of the first cities I went to when I could finally travel. I mean, you see what we did at CIFF bro? It became our fucking hub for half a decade.

That was a moment for sure.

I remember the first account I got was Antonioli, and he came super gangster, being like, You're going to sell me these clothes. And I was like, bro, I didn't come to sell clothes. I'm just kind of catching a vibe with my homie and I made these things. And he's like, No, you're going to sell it to me. And then I was like, Oh my god that’s Claudio Antonioli. So then I went home, I googled wholesale, and figured that shit out. [laughs]

[Laughs]

Like you said, I couldn't help myself, but I didn't just make t-shirts and hoodies either. I was really on my Rick wave, so I made my version of the Rick things. It was that meets like The Boondock Saints, because I'm still a little bit of a Cali bro, sort of rock kid, but not really. I like hip-hop, but I like the way the rock stars look. I like the contrast. I thought it was cool. After that, I just never stopped.

It was clear to me when I first met you that you were onto your own thing in LA. It made a lot of sense, and it was so cool. It was before 424 was its own brand; you just had the store and this really cool curation.

It was all my shit, bro. I was very, very invested in sharing all of these things that I was finding from all over the world, like Astrid Anderson. She was one of those designers at the time, so important to 424. The connection to Copenhagen specifically for me was huge. I had a big fan base there. It was incredible. And then here in LA, we were sharing the things that we were a part of and finding; it was still the early days of Fear of God, Rhude, Martine Rose. A lot of these brands, we were the first store to ever sell it — we were selling Hood By Air on the West Coast.

You had Rick as well, I remember.

Oh yeah. It took me a long time. But I got Rick, bro. By the time I had to close the store on Fairfax, I already had a Raf Simons account. I had reached my ultimate dream. It was really all the stuff I wanted to wear at the time. It was dope. The best of the best.

We had an office magazine newsstand in there as well.

Oh yeah, we did! I came to visit the one you had, and I was like, Yo, I got to bring this whole fucking thing over here. But yeah, in LA, after two days people forget you exist, but everyone’s been super supportive. We’re all 10 years older now. We've been around forever at this point.

It can be dangerous to take those breaks when you’re figuring shit out, but there’s something very genuine to this comeback you’re having.

Thank you, thank you. We’ve been in and out of those fucking showrooms in Paris for long enough. I've been in and out of these factories for the past 10 years of my life. We had to figure something out. And I think now really diving in, being in Italy full time and being there to develop these products over time, I think that the whole thing just really shows the suppliers respect you more. The people who are making your goods understand why you're making them. And I think now I finally got to the place where I'm not making Italian things, I’m making my clothes, I'm making Cali-centric shit, but with that European technicality and execution. With this Fall / Winter collection, it clicked.

So what’s the vision for the next year? What are you manifesting?

I'm just fucking relentless, bro. This is the way I want to live my life. Now that we are more aligned, more prepared, and have more experience, moving forward it is just more of becoming a fully functioning company that can provide and create opportunities for all of the people around me. We’ve been operating just on instinct for a long time.

Sustaining a business is scary, trust me I know.

Scary as fuck, dog. I just opened a store next to Bottega, bro, and it’s like what am I even doing? You have to just believe in the thing you're doing more than anybody else.

100%, and it seems like that’s what you’re doing.

And fashion’s kind of a competitive sport, as much as people don’t think it is. We can reach a certain level without losing ourselves. My biggest ambition at the moment is to create something that, when you leave one of our neighbors you come into our place you don’t feel that the level has been sacrificed at all. And it’s not easy.

Definitely. I wish I could be there tomorrow.

Thank you, bro. 10 years now. You’ve always shown me so much love. We have to do a booth or have the office part of the next 424 day. Shit let’s do a 424 day in New York.

That would be sick. Let's do it. I'm here. Let’s catch up soon.

Next season’s right around the corner so I’ll see you in Paris.

Yes, see you in Paris and Happy 424 day!

Fashion

Luis De Javier's Puta Takeover

April 25, 2024

Last night with Luis De Javier, guests were overheard confirming this generation's most vital conundrum: “If I’m cunt, I can still be pussy.” “And if you’re pussy, you can still be cunt.” This sentiment echoed throughout the night as we celebrated De Javier’s first-ever streetwear collection, "Puta". We spent seven hours at Ella Funt at a dinner turned party that only he could’ve thrown (co-hosted by emcee). It was too dark for even the most aspiring-to-look-mysterious of us to wear sunglasses inside. Under the semi-oppressive flash of party photographers, we danced as much as the space would allow, drank tequila out of teacups and kissed each other on the cheeks with a vaguely European intimacy. “I’m doing streetwear!” De Javier could be heard exclaiming — whether it be in disbelief or excitement, we couldn’t tell you.

Words and photos by Izzy Capulong

The Spanish-born London-based designer has been well-loved for his genderless tailoring, latex mastery, and overall message of empowerment. Dressing everyone from ravers to A-listers, De Javier’s latest drop pushes his design repertoire to a new level. “While designing for my celebrity clientele and showcasing my creations on the runway has always been my dream,” he notes, “It’s equally important to me that my brand resonates with a wider, more diverse audience.” While this collection’s medium has shifted from corsets to sweatshirts, the classic LDJ avant-garde sensibilities remain. Bikinis and booty shorts are shamelessly emblazoned with “PUTA,” blazers are constructed with ample shoulder padding, and I had my eye on the cheekily-named “Faguette Bag.”

The Puta collection will be available exclusively on emcee.

Fashion

Nadia Lee Cohen Celebrates Paris Texas Launch at the Chateau

To celebrate the launch, Cohen and founder and creative director of Paris Texas, Annamaria Brivio hosted an intimate dinner at the Chateau Marmont pictured below. Arman Naféei entertained guests throughout the evening with a special playlist he curated for the occasion.