Masahiro Lamarsh: Peaking Shimmers Under a Dark Ethos

January 31, 2022

Meet the day-to-night enigma floating around the streets of New York City - Masahiro LaMarsh, a genius in his own right and a certified visionary who’s always dripped out in his bizarre creations. He's the embodiment of standing out by not fitting in 一 on most days he’s rushing to bookings and on others, he’s fusing his unmistakable identity with innovative designs. His forward-thinking mindset coupled with his laser-eye precision has blasted him into a realm where he’s disconnected from all things traditional.

The visionary unveils himself through meticulous jewelry designs and peculiar sculptures, opening up the mind to untapped territory 一 all while providing his clients with an experiential journey that personifies the outer shell. His upcoming era exhibits his artistic meshing abilities 一 from his jaw-dropping Grillz to his eclectic sets of rings and bands, he embodies all facets in this category.

Interview by Ronald Kahihikolo
Photography by Phi Vu

More recently, he’s become that of a muse after going viral on Watching New York’s Tik Tok and Instagram. Since then, he’s caught the eye of the masses and has been carefully constructing his upcoming capsule collection that's set to drop in the fall.

office caught up with the designer to talk about his most recent designs, his upcoming collection, his journey, and more.

Check out the interview below.

You’re like this day-to-night enigma floating around the streets of NYC. How would you introduce yourself to anyone that hasn’t found their way to you yet?

I suppose, my ethos and beliefs seep into all aspects of my life. For example, fashion has always been a huge component of my identity. Maybe that explains that whole blow-up, I guess. But across all art forms, I try to capture that same personality and look. So I’m a very intense and cohesive creator and that's what I would say.

Speaking of going viral, some people blow up for some pretty ridiculous things but your vibe and energy were the catalysts that propelled that video. Tell me, what was going on in your head when you suddenly went viral for all of the right reasons?

We live in a generation where there are so many ways you can get viral and it's just a chance thing, perhaps. I blame it on chance and I feel very grateful for what happened.

I was a little bit shell-shocked, I had taken some time to get off of social media because I didn't want to let it change anything about myself. I was so grateful, but at the same time I had to take a step back and be like, ‘well, I guess this is happening,’. But at the end of the day, I was super grateful for the amount of people who resonated with me. Also, the amount of positivity that came through was insane, so many people were messaging me being like, ‘I've been trying to find myself, you make me wanna shake my depression and make me want to strive to be who I am.’ I was just like, these were the nicest things anybody could ever tell you.

Yeah, when that video started circulating, that's all me and my friends could talk about. We were like ‘this guy's so f*cking cool!’

That's crazy! Thanks for the kind words. Yeah, being hooked into the New York scene and its communities have benefited me a lot. But with that said it seems everyone I know here has seen it and been sending love!

Love it. Walk me through the creation of your first design and what was the initial spark behind your creations – where did it all begin? Did you think you’d still be designing?

When I moved to New York City, I had goals of becoming a designer and I thought fashion was where it was gonna be, but I realized that fashion has kind of changed across the board. Looking to do it more as a hobby, I kind of just let life take me in weird places since nothing ever goes the way you plan in life. My first creations would be some clothes and bags, but I started doing jewelry stuff a few years ago and like many things, it stumbled into my lap and I just kinda fell in love with it. I realized that when you consciously know your voice and you're very aware of that, you can move laterally in between different fields and don't let anybody tell you otherwise. You're gonna pick up on things that you love about certain things and things that you don't love, which is part of your artist's voice.

I established my artist's voice during my time in fashion and I knew who I wanted my leaders to be and who my gods were. So I just took that and moved into jewelry and now I've done that same thing and a little bit with sculpture work too. My ethos is contained across all facets, but it's just acknowledging what you like and what you don't like, which I think has helped me with a lot of my designs. Chasing that curiosity keeps me still designing. Also, I was super fortunate to meet Brian Weissman of Brooklyn Metal Works who took me into his studio, nurtured my creativity, and became a mentor of mine.

Yeah, for sure. Your designs have a mixture of playfulness and innovation to them 一 it's a peculiar type of chic glittered over with a forward-thinking mindset. What makes this such an irresistible combination for you and the consumer?

I think all the fostering I've done to become that individual and know the artist's voice 一 I think that's what kind of makes it charismatic. You can be ugly if you want to be ugly and as long as you rock that shit, then people are like, wow, I fuck with ugly. I think a lot of my jewelry looks like something that's been dug out of the earth, but that can be charismatic even though it's not mainstream, there is some honesty and modesty to that.

Amazing. How do you come up with these ideas and how long does one design usually take?

I look towards a lot of textures is what I would say. I love textures and the illusions that go into making textures that are recognized by the eye. I also look towards a lot of deconstruction work. One of my favorite things ever is the anti-fashion movement in the nineties, so I embraced a lot of their gospels, which promotes uniqueness and designing against the grain. I think what goes into a lot of my designs is presenting something different or at least I hope so. Then of course always looking towards heritage. I just finished a piece with somebody who's part Columbian and emeralds are a huge part of their culture. We researched a lot of the indigenous community that his descendants had come from and used that as the base design, and then we had a mutual love for anti-fashion. So we went with an even more unique design.

In general, projects are about two weeks to two months.

How have your designs helped you morph your vision into a living, breathing reality? In other words, when you first started the brand, what was Masahiro LaMarsh thinking?

My designs and my visions are just an extension of myself. Feeling blessed for the reality I’ve worked for. I suppose what I'm fighting for is to have my keep in the design world and introduce my ethos so that my designs and my success go hand in hand. Like, when I create something for the world to see I've won my battle.

I can’t predict how well it’s appraised or received, but it feels like creation is the success. It's the same thing I'd imagine, for when you write. You can't choose who's gonna receive or see what you write, but you're winning because you're pursuing what you want.

Do you see your designs as a way to embody different identities or is it something you want people to wear to encapsulate the outer shell?

So this is an interesting topic because of this whole viral thing. I kind of realized that maybe it is a different identity. I think my designs are the most honest form of myself. They are the purest form of me that exists today. But then I don't think I can keep up with the other identities that are acquired. I was thinking about this last night, I don't think I'm meant to be anything other than the weird creator making those designs. I can't keep up with the idea of being a digital celebrity or If I'm put on this pedestal I have to kind of isolate myself or not be on social media as a face.

You have a lot of designers who like to do a lot of media and can be that public rockstar figure. Unfortunately, I don't think I can be that, I think like I love who I am as a creator and I just l don't have that trait to be so open space. So that's the two personalities that I've been battling with, one that's honest, quiet in the studio, and creating weird things, and then the person that’s being egged on to be more out there to help influence people. It's hard because the whole viral thing was the nicest and I feel so incredibly blessed, but it can put you in this position where you feel pressured to be a certain way to please others.

On the bright side, there are a lot of great designers, especially in the anti-fashion movement that did the least public-facing stuff other than their creations. So they let the creation speak for themselves. That way you only got that honesty. I fuck with that right now, that's like been my closing thoughts on this whole viral thing. I can't change anything about me because then I've lost the reason why it ended up going so well in the first place.

And of course, incredibly honored if anyone out there is wearing my pieces and is identifying with the ethos I’m creating!

Yeah, you have an upcoming capsule collection coming up for fashion week in the fall of this year, what can we expect to see and where are you in the process of each piece?

It's gonna be all of my wildest dreams come true. I do a lot of one-off pieces, so I'd like to consistently do one-off pieces forever, but I would also like to do something that's more publicly available for other people. There's a trick to be said with accessibility because, in my mind, it's immoral to sell a shit ton of the world's resources without being conscious of what you're doing. I think that's how our generation is going to be better is by designers realizing that. So I'm going to do a limited capsule collection. I'm also going to show some of the sculptures that I've been working on. I did a marble sculpting residency in Italy this past year and I learned so much about sculpture work which just pairs nicely with jewelry creation. I'll be displaying sculptures there with this really interesting conceptual brand that I have all mapped out. It should twist everybody's arms appropriately.

So that’s what you gotta look forward to in September. If I can figure out the finances and if I can figure out a space, where it's going to be, it's going to be giving so much. A big thing about this show is going to be the after-party - since it’s all about having fun anyways. I'm working with some of the key figures who run a lot of the club scenes and RA scenes in New York. So I’m hoping for an iconic after-party as well.

Who is the person behind the designs? Give us a little scoop into who you are and where you are when you’re not designing.

As a designer I'm a reflection, or as any artist, I am just a reflection of my upbringing and things that I've been inspired by. So I enjoy the love of dark art, horror, fashion movements, or even these things that are really philosophically and intellectually intriguing. Then I also have a very serious upbringing as a person who's raised by a minority mom, grew up in a very poor environment and to present that, I know I don't really do too many cultural pieces per se, not yet at least, but there's a huge part of me that understands that I am fighting for a lot of biracial people out there who kind of have this like identity journey. It's not so easy, but I can see beauty. Then as a minority in the United States, I'm also fighting for people on the same team, so that's how I view it as a designer. That's what I would like to achieve success across the board and bring everybody up.

When I’m not designing, I’m usually doing activities that reflect these views, like spending time with friends, researching, or partying with a plethora of wonderful communities in the NYC underground.

Where do you hope to take your designs in the near future? What can you tell us about any future collections that you have coming out?

I think I’m gonna have a healthy design house for jewelry and also a great art-house for some of the sculpture work that I wanna do, one day. In the next 10 years, I'll be dedicating my life and my blood and soul to upcoming collections. It's gonna be so good. It's gonna be limited just to be conscious of the world of course, but in the next 10 years, I'm hoping to alter the way that we understand jewelry and consume it, as individuals.

That was sort of my last question unless you wanted to talk about anything else.

Well, if anybody can help with the show, I need a gallery space. That'd be great. Please feel free to reach out. The other thing that I wanna promote is the power of kindness and the pursuit of your own existence and individuality.

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After 30 years and over 100 cult fragrances, COMME DES GARÇONS PARFUMS 1994–2025 BY SIMONETT & BAER launches this month

December 17, 2024

“I have to add that the topic is, of course, an irrational one, because it's not art and it's not fashion. It has to do with scent, which is something in the air,” explains Dino Simonett, renowned art-book maker and designer/publisher of the new COMME des GARÇONS x SIMONETT & BAER book, which details 30 years of CDG perfumes.

“The moment you smell something is irrational,” he continues. “This book transports you and brings you to the idea behind the perfumes. People have gotten thousands of art catalogues from me, but this fucking perfume thing really drives people a little bit crazy, you know? Because everybody has this bottle; and that bottle smells like this on them; and this bottle I need; and all the memories and everything. I like it a lot that we made this.”

As fans and family of the world’s coolest brand prepared to gather at Dover Street Parfums Market in Paris to celebrate the launch of the book, our Editor-At-Large Paige Silveria shared some coffee and cigarettes with Simonett to discuss his wild trajectory, making books with Joseph Beuys and Tilda Swinton early on, and the importance of nonconformal thinking.

By Paige Silveria

This fucking perfume thing really drives people a little bit crazy.

Paige Silveria: Tell me about yourself. You make books.

Dino Simonett: My books are my art. Each book might be a painting or sculpture. And you should not do the same sculpture all the time. When you hike somewhere, you never should go the same way back home — this is something my mother taught me when I was young. In the same way, it's boring to make the same stuff all the time. So I try to find a way to invent my own language.

PS: This book you’ve made is really beautiful.

DS: It’s hyperrealistic larger-than-life images of boxes and flacons in an endless row presented on paper the thickness of a children’s book.

PS: I loved how it said in the press release that you woke up one Sunday morning and the idea for the book suddenly came to you.

DS: The backstory is that Remo Hallauer [COO of COMME des GARÇONS International] is a true book lover. We met at the Offprint book fair in Paris. And one day, shortly after peak COVID, this email came from him asking if I’d think about a possible collaboration with one of the young stars here — and no hard feelings, but it didn’t work out. So then, as it is in life, which is the essential thing, you have to have an idea. And most of the time, they’re not good enough. You have to have another and another and then you go, Ah ha! Perfume.

PS: And you’d already been pretty familiar with their fragrances?

DS: I’ve known this stuff since the beginning. I wore the first perfume they created. It was part of my life all the time, and I thought, It's so funny. There’s a connection with how I make the books: like two, three books a year, all collaborations and each is different. Just like their perfumes. So I immediately texted Remo.

PS: And what perfect timing, with the 30-year anniversary.

DS: Yes, but this was two years ago or so. I hadn’t had the jubilee in mind. It might not look like much, but there was a lot of work to do.

PS: Many of the advertisements and images weren’t archived, physically or digitally, right? You had to search all over for a good portion of the material?

DS: Well we also had to wait for the official deal to go through in the beginning. Adrian Joffe [President of COMME des GARÇONS International and Dover Street Market International] wanted to do it but he didn’t have the mind space at the time; they were about to open the Dover Street Market here in Paris. So we were on our own for a bit, developing the project from zero. We looked all over the Internet and tried to create the chronology. I had a young guy helping me. He kept reminding me to be patient and to continue to work on growing the book. The door was open, but we had to wait in front of the next room. So we took little steps to prepare ourselves. And stuff slowly worked out.

PS: And thank God for the Internet.

DS: Yes, because as you mentioned, there was no archive. We thought surely they’d have something in the basement. But no, that didn’t exist. At one point they sent us a list of all the perfumes so we had a clear checklist to manage. I had to become an expert.

PS: There are so many, over 100?

DS: Yeah, and at one point the CDG team was activated. It was like a machine and in the spring suddenly a load of stuff was coming. First we had to grow the grapes, then make the wine and then the grappa. And at the end, it's a really strong grappa. And so things came together, and then one day Adrian said, “All is fine, but Rei [Kawakubo] must now also approve it. This is how the system works.” But nobody had told me! So Remo met with Rei to show her the book.

PS: That’s a bit of pressure!

DS: She could have said no and we’d have to throw everything in the garbage, two years of work. There was indeed a little bit of pressure. But it was fine. She liked the book. Then at the end of this summer we met again and they asked if they could have some of the finished copies on 20 November in Tokyo. I said, “I’m sorry, what?” He was thinking that the book was finished, you know? I told him we still needed a lot of material to finish it. Sometimes it's nice though to have this pressure. It's motivating and thrilling when you finally accomplish it all.

PS: Let’s go back. How did your upbringing inform who you are?

DS: It has to do with nonconformal thinking. Most people think the same. And we’re constantly pressured as well, by everything around us to conform. You have to really fight to keep your head and so I had this upbringing with this rather eccentric mother who was absolutely nonconformistic in every way. She was resolute. Why should we follow the path of the masses? It was never my thing. Voilà.

PS: How were you in school?

DS: I was not so good at school. I was only skateboarding at that time. I was on the Swiss National Team. I even was here in Paris at a European championship when I was 15 at the Trocadero. And my mother said, “You are not going to school anymore. You need an apprenticeship. It makes no sense to send you to school any longer.” I was independent and had my first salary at 16.

PS: What were you doing?

DS: I was a carpenter making tables, chairs, all that stuff. All my friends went to high school with like 16-week holidays, while I had only four. And so it was really, really tough shit for a 16 year old. But I learned two important things. The first one was discipline; seven o'clock each day it started and lasted nine hours. And the second thing was precision; you have to do things right. People always said to me that the apprenticeship was good as I’d really use it for the rest of my life. And I always thought that was such bullshit. But actually, it's kind of true. And so anyways, the moment I finished my apprenticeship, the very last day of the last test, I went on the Interrail for one month and never went back to a carpenter shop.

PS: What’d you do after?

DS: I wrote a letter to this very super famous music guy, Claude Nobs who was organizing the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, telling him I’d like to work there that summer. I mentioned that I’d just finished my apprenticeship for carpentry. He phoned me back immediately after getting the letter. He said, “Oh you’re a carpenter? You can come right now.” He was renovating his apartment in Montreux. So I stayed and worked there alone while he was up at his chalet. I felt like Kevin McCallister from Home Alone in this completely furnished apartment. And then the festival started, and there was this guy from New York doing a large mural painting. It was Keith Haring. I had no idea who he was. We became friends. Then I met George Benson and Herbie Hancock. It started from nothing and then one thing comes, another thing comes, another thing comes. This is how I started, which is maybe not the natural way. But I was following my intuition and taking chances and putting myself out there.

PS: And you're going after what you have a passion for.

DS: I think that’s the best way to live one's life. It was like my own private art school. I met all the guys I was totally hot about. I met Joseph Beuys and told him I wanted to do an art project with him. I got his number and he told me to ask for his assistant. But I took everything for granted, what people said to me. So I had this phone number in Berlin. And I called the guy 20 times until this fucking meeting with Beuys finally happened. And we met and made a small collaboration art magazine called “Quer.” You just have to stick to the stuff.

PS: Wow. You don't still have one of those copies around, do you?

DS: I had one and I brought it to Remo at one of our meetings. Adrian saw it and immediately took it … I hope he gave it back to Remo. Adrian has a pile of my stuff that he wanted to see, so that’s good.

PS: Yeah, of any coffee table in the world for it to be displayed, his is probably in the top 10.

DS: So then I decided my dream was to be a film director. There was a film school in Berlin that I applied to. They only took about 18 people from 600. We waited all week to see this list on the wall for the final call back meeting. And my name wasn’t there. I was like, “Shit!” And then a week later, I received a letter saying I’d been accepted. Later the director told me it was clear enough with my application and the art magazine I’d sent that I’d be accepted. I don’t say this to brag. I say this to tell you that every young person that wants to go somewhere, all they have to do is fight. You have to get out of your house and your small town and your comfort zone and all that shit.

PS: I agree. So you’ve made films?

DS: I made a feature movie and went to the film festival. It was really amazing and everything, but I was not Tarantino, you know? So it’s the last semester and Tilda Swinton is supposed to teach a seminar. I really wanted to attend it. It would be the cherry on top of the cake. Then she postponed it once, then twice. The third time, I’m on the tube and there’s a woman in front of me with a newspaper that says that Tilda’s super mentor, Derek Jarman, had passed away. It’s the very Monday morning that her seminar is set to begin. And I thought, Oh shit. She’s not going to be there. But then she was there after all and it was a fantastic week. There were only five of us students and we all fell in love with her. And she fell in love with us. I’ve known her since.

PS: I can only imagine. How’d you make the transition into books?

DS: You have to find out what you're really good at. I had long discussions with this guru, an old guy who was a very diligent, very bright guy. I was really miserable, feeling directionless. He asked me why I wasn’t continuing with filmmaking. And I couldn't give him an answer. Then he said right into my face, “Probably it’s because you’re not good enough.” The message was one-hundred percent received. It was a relief; I'm not a bad person. This guy told me the truth, and I could accept it. And when you can do this, you can figure out what you actually want to do, what you’re actually good at. I started making books. I made one with another film director. And we visited Tilda at her hotel, bringing one to her as a present. As we’re knocking, I thought to myself, If I did another book focused on people in this business, it’d have to be her. And she opens the door, looks at the book and says, “Oh, I would like to have a book like this on me.”

PS: These situations seem unreal.

DS: I spent five years on her book, which was an enormous success. It included stills from all her films and launched it in different cities. Fantastic shit.

PS: And now you’ve just released this soon-to-be iconic CDG book.

DS: I've learned to be patient; things can take you years. This book with Adrian and Remo took two years and I didn’t even know if it was going to be approved! Follow your dreams as much as you can. It's not so important which dream it is exactly. If I see a step in front of me, I try to take each chance I get. This is what I wish for everybody, in whatever situation you find yourself, start to do something with nothing. This book started with just a simple idea. You can not find anything like this on the Internet, this compilation, this narrative. It’s something we had to bring together with enormous work. And here we are. I think in our digital, splattered times sometimes you have to make something which is real. That you can sit with and focus on in silence and really take time alone with it.