Kenzo Minami

“It makes sense that I studied both philosophy and industrial design,” says Kenzo Minami. “One is ergonomics, the functioning of humans in a physical environment, and the other is the functioning of humans in the social and metaphysical environment. As much as they seem to be polar opposites, there is a place they can coexist and cooperate.”

Metaphysically speaking, the 32-year-old super-creative lives on the spot where those two things intersect. Geographically speaking, he lives in Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

Photo by Dylan Griffin

With an arsenal of creative media under his belt, Minami has no favorites and tends not to categorize. “I don’t really look at all the media as anything separated or divided. Pen, paper, digital, moving image, still, they’re all part of the same thing, there is no big shift in the approach. I enjoy the strengths, weaknesses, and challenges each medium provides.”

Those media have included everything from sets for the Sci-Fi channel to mural paintings for Nike’s underground NoLita gallery to sneakers for Reebok. Other clients are similarly all over the map: MTV, Sharp Electronics, Kid Robot, Converse.

Minami credits the backdrop of his childhood home, a small factory town near Kobe, Japan, as one of the reasons for his creativity. “With nothing to play with, I had to make my own toys,” he explains. “Pencils, paper, and [abundantly free] metal scraps became my tools of choice.”

After studying Western philosophy at Kwansei Gakuin University in Japan, Minami studied industrial design at the Parsons School of Design in New York, drawn to the field for a particular element of absolutism. “Industrial design is the only field with a clear way of judging what’s good and bad, right and wrong in the context of ergonomics; it’s more than a matter of personal tastes and beliefs,” he explains.

His latest project, started in 2004, is an eponymous high-end garment project started “to dare the audience and market,” Minami says. “I would rather risk being a nail in the coffin of the medium if taking the risk contains a slight chance to revolutionize or do something different.” Kenzo is in the process of adding new items and accessories to the line, which is visible on his website and currently available from Madison Avenue to Omotesando-dori. Perhaps if Minami had it his way, the line would be sold in the North and South Poles as well.