Fashion Pioneer Goes ‘Color Hunting’ in NYC, Discusses New Projects and Career

Mastermind in Textile: An Evening with Dai Fujiwara

Wednesday, November, 16, 2011, 6:30 pm, at Japan Society

New York, NY – Dai Fujiwara, former Issey Miyake creative director who created A-Poc (A Piece of Cloth) line with Miyake, among various other lines, appears at Japan Society this fall when he visits New York City to go hunting for color in Central Park.

In 2008 Fujiwara and his creative team began their Color Hunting project in the Amazon, hunting for a palette of natural colors for their spring/summer 2009 collection. According to the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt Natinoal Design Museum, “with 3,000 color samples, they matched the gentle colors of rivers (which oddly resembled the hues of human skin), leaves, trees, and soil.” To test their choices, strips of dyed cloth were hung in open spaces, over rivers, and in front of trees. The color was true if it ‘melted away’ into the background.

In Mastermind in Textile: An Evening with Dai Fujiwara, Fujiwara discusses his Color Hunting project, shares his bounty from Central Park, and answers questions about life at Miyake and what the future holds, including the architectural project titled Sun House, featured in Japan Society’s current exhibition Fiber Futures, which uses fabric as part of roofing design. Moderated by Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum’s Cara McCarty, the discussion takes place November 16 at 6:30 pm and is followed by a reception.

FUJIWARA Dai graduated from Tama Art University in 1994.  He joined the Miyake Design Studio in 1995 as a member of the Issey Miyake Paris collection team. In 1998 he started the A-POC (A Piece of Cloth) project with Miyake, winning the Good Design Award in 2000. The project was exhibited at Vitra Design Museum in Berlin as well as MoMA. Fujiwara became the creative director of ISSEY MIYAKE in 2006. In 2008, he left to start DAIFUJIWARA AND COMPANY. He has lectured on design around the world, including Moscow University, Museum of Modern Art Sao Paulo, and Harvard University.  Fujiwara started the Sun House project in 2001. He won the Mainichi Design Award in 2003.

Cara McCarty began her tenure as Curatorial Director of Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution in 2007. A distinguished expert in the field of architecture, design and decorative arts, McCarty has served as a curator, lecturer and author for more than 25 years. Recent exhibitions curated by McCarty include National Design Triennial: Why Design Now?; Tata Nano: The People’s Car; Currents 101: Patrick Jouin; Tadao Ando: Architect; Structure and Surface: Contemporary Japanese Textiles (co-curated with Matilda McQuaid); Masks: Faces of Culture; and Currents 69: Gaetano Pesce.

Founded in 1907, Japan Society is a world-class, multidisciplinary hub for global leaders, artists, scholars, educators, and English and Japanese-speaking audiences. At the Society, more than 100 events each year feature sophisticated, topically relevant presentations of Japanese art and culture and open, critical dialogue on issues of vital importance to the U.S., Japan and East Asia. An American nonprofit, nonpolitical organization, the Society cultivates a constructive, resonant and dynamic relationship between the people of the U.S. and Japan.

Mastermind in Textile: An Evening with Dai Fujiwaratakes place Wednesday, November, 16 at 6:30 pm. Japan Society is located at 333 East 47th Street between First and Second avenues (accessible by the 4/5/6 at 42nd Street-Grand Central Station or the E and V at Lexington Avenue and 53rd St.) Tickets are 16/$12 members, seniors and students. For reservations or more information, visit www.japansociety.org or call the box office at 212-715-1258.

Japan Airlines is the exclusive Japanese Airline sponsor of Lecture Programs at Japan Society. United Airlines is the exclusive U.S. Airline sponsor of Lecture Programs at Japan Society. Additional support is provided by Chris A. Wachenheim and the Sandy Heck Lecture Fund.  

# # #

Media Contacts:

Shannon Jowett, 212-715-1205, sjowett@japansociety.org

Kuniko Shiobara, 212-715-1249, kshiobara@japansociety.org