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PH design consultant is based in Taipei, with a broadly worldview. In 2007, they have launched their online media - Design&Life online minizine and has grabbed the worlds attention. Design&Life is an online minizine that gathers information including design, lifestyle, fashion, trend and creative news from all over the world. D&L is now having readers from 50+ different countries.

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We specialize in Corporate Identity System, Brand Images, Editorial design, Trend Forecasting, Packaging Design, Signage System, Advertising & Creative Direction for worldwide.

13 most beautiful

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D & L N E W S Released in conjunction with The Andy Warhol Museum,13 Most Beautiful...Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests features 13 of Warhol's classic silent film portraits. Subjects inlcude Nico, Lou Reed, Edie Sedgwick, Dennis Hopper, and more. Shot between 1964 and 1966 at Warhol's Factory studio in New York City, the Screen Tests are presented with newly commissioned soundtracks by Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips. Believe it or not, this is the first ever authorized DVD of Andy Warhol's films! For more information, visit the website : www.plexifilm.com / via Plexifilm

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02.

as simple as 0

An art, a sculpture, or a relief hung on the wall, the new 0 wall clock collection definitely will freeze your time when you look at it. It is designed without a second hand and the contoured shadow of this clock will inform your the time serenely. Various colors available. / via 0 www.plusminuszero.com

timeless masterpiece
The idea was first conceived in 1990 while Mr. Issey Miyake asked Shiro Kuramata to design a perfume bottle. Miyake recalls Kuramata suggested an oversized drop of water and a condensed version of the earth with visions of flowers and dreams, light and wind, men and women dancing a rondo inside. Thanks to the development of laser technology, almost twenty years on, though sadly after Kuramatas death in 1991, 2,500 bottles have been made. A perfect sphere has been cut into a cube of glass and polished, achieving the absolute purity Kuramata intended with his original drawings. / via Wallpaper magazine www.isseymiyakeparfums.com 9

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D & L N E W S piper heidsieck - ros sauvage by viktor and rolf

the pentawards
The pentawards is the only worldwide competition exclusively devoted to packaging design. We have chosen some winners here and the Diamon Award went to the upside down champagne bottle - PIEPER HEIDSIECK Ros Sauvage designed by the duo Dutch fashion designers Viktor & Rolf, How do you do something new with something timeless? We had only one answer: reverse the proportions. For more great pieces, please check on their website! / via designboom www.thedieline.com/pentawards08

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D & L N E W S yaoki sake bottle by dentsu kyushu of Japan coca-cola aluminium bottle by the anglo-american turner duckworth agency

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D & L N E W S suntory coffee boss - zeitaku bitou by suntory limited waitrose herbs by jewis moberly

05.

sarugaku

Sarugaku, literally monkey music, was a form of theatre popular in Japan during the 11th to 14th centuries. And now, Sarugaku is the name of a shopping and commercial complex designed by the renowned Japanese architect, Akihisa Hirata in Daikanyama, Tokyo. The site is pretty long and skinny so that the architect was legally forced to build 6 small buildings instead of one. The pace in the center and in between the buildings then becomes a valley. Each space is able to overflow into this valley to create a forest of illusion as Hirata explains. / via designboom www.designboom.com www.hao.nu 17

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How to survive the new Great

Please email us your concept, ideas (design, photos, illustrations, arts..etc.) and your basic information. If your piece is chosen, we will show your works on Design&Life next time and let people know your brilliant impression.
For more imformation or submission, please contact survive@designandlife.com
*Please send us JPG files and no larger then 750KB. Thank you.

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EXPERIMENTAL. HYBRID.TOKYO
interview with W+K TOKYO LAB : P ro d uc e r / Br u c e I k e d a C re a tiv e Di re c t o r / E r i c Cr u z ( + cr u z )
www.wktokyolab.com

A music label that was created in the most unique city, Tokyo, W+K Tokyo Lab persists in their unique way of remixing music and design. They recently celebrated their 5th anniversary by releasing the book "TOKYO.TEN," their 10th release, which featured nine visual remixes of their previously released albums in addition to the work of 42 artists they have collaborated with so far. We are pleased to have this opportunity to interview their producer Bruce Ikeda and Creative Director Eric Cruz(+cruz,) and get a closer look at W+K Tokyo Lab. Hi Bruce and Eric. Please introduce yourself! Bruce(B) : My name is Bruce Ikeda, A&R / Producer of W+K Tokyo Lab, a music label which was launched by Wieden+Kennedy Tokyo 5 years ago. My job is finding artists to sign to the label, and then executing album projects with them, working with our visual team and other collaborators. I oversee the music + visual creative development and production processes. Im also responsible for the progress and evolution of the W+K Tokyo Lab. Eric(E) : I'm +cruz, creative director of W+K Tokyo Lab. How did you start W+K Tokyo Lab? And why did

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you choose Tokyo? B : Wieden+Kennedy Tokyo was launched in 1988, aiming to be a new type of creative company. I joined W+K in 99 as an AE (Account Executive) for the Nike team, and as soon as I joined, I had the opportunity to be involved in an basketball campaign called Players Delight, which featured 3 NBA players and the hip hop anthem Rappers Delight. We made TV spots for each player featuring illustration by Katsura Moshino. Initially, accompanying tracks were produced in LA with local session musicians. However, we didnt like the resulting sound, so we changed the plan and decided instead to pick up 3 Japanese rappers, have them write lyrics about the players, and then produce the remixes with their own crews. We released a limited pressing of 12 inch vinyls and distributed to key influencers and DJs in advance of the TV campaign. When we pressed the record, we tried to be as authentic as possible, and so we were very specific with the details of it such as the order of tracks, the cutting engineer, the label / album design, etc..

The campaign was a huge success, and the limited vinyl became a legendary hip hop album in the Tokyo music scene. Within 6 months, people stared to deal the vinyl on Yahoo auction with prices up to 700 USD. That was the very first music-related project we did and this led to further experimentation in pushing the boundaries of advertising. The following year, we started an experimental project for Nike called Presto. We initiated experimental collaborations, combining Indie bands, top DJs and visual artists to create a new form of hybrid expression using the latest technology. The Presto campaign blurred the line between culture and commerce. We did Presto every year from 2000 2003, with increasing enthusiastic reactions from Japan and overseas. Thanks to the Players Delight and Presto campaigns, W+K started to gain attention from the music community and record industry before
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the advertising world even caught on. In 2001, the president of Polystar Records, a Japanese midsized record company, approached us with an offer to launch a music label. We spent 2 years planning and preparing, and W+K Tokyo Lab was launched in 2003. E : We started about 5 years ago. We were creating new hybrid audiovisual campaigns and cultural events that focused on youth culture for Nikes Presto line. A few record labels started to take note of our Enhanced CDs, DVDJ (DVDs that you could use to create your own music video mix). After two years of talks with Polystar, we formed a creative outlet called W+K Tokyo Lab. Our mission was to create hybrid experiences that harness Tokyos cutural power and influence to create unique expressions that can only be created here and now in Tokyo.

Takagi Masakatsu / rehome (CD+DVD) 2003.6.25. Release

UC a.k.a. DJ Uppercut / Pieces (CD+DVD) 2003.9.18. Release

HIFANA / Fresh Push Breakin (CD+DVD) 2003.11.19. Releas

Takagi Masakatsu / COIEDA (CD+DVD) 2004.9.8. Release

UC a.k.a. DJ Uppercut / The attack of Ninja (12 inch vinyl record) 2003.12.7. Release

How many artists are in the Lab right now? B : 6 in total. Our first artist was Takagi Masakatsu. [ www.takagimasakatsu.com ] He has been active in both the electronic music and contemporary art scenes from the very beginning of his career. He is a great musician and an amazing video artist. His expression is based on a great fusion of music and visuals. He handles the entire creative process himself.

B : The Labs 3rd artist is HIFANA [ www.hifana.com ], who is currently attracting a great deal of global attention. Hifana is the breakbeats unit of Keizo and Juicy. They mix analogue and digital, audio and visual, traditional and modern Japan in their own unique way. Theyre doing it all, like no one else out there. E : HIFANA is a next-generation breakbeats duo known for their original live performances. B : After HIFANA we released AFRA [ www.oddjob.jp ], a well known human beatboxer. The record was produced by underground legend Scott Herren a.k.a. Prefuse 73. E : AFRA is the most renowned Japanese beatboxer. B : And most recently, we signed 2 new artists : Jemapur [ www.myspace.com/jemapur ], a 21 year-old track
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E : Takagi Masakatasu is a hybrid artist from Kyoto who not only creates his own music but also directs his own music videos. B : After Takagi, we released DJ Uppercut [ www.myspace.com/ucakadjuppercut ] , a great trackmaker who was collaborating with great musicians such as Jay Dee, and Pardon Kimura. E : UC a.k.a. DJ Uppercut, is an abstract Hip-Hop artist and DJ.

maker based in Shizuoka, and Chinza Dopeness [ www.myspace.com/chinzadopeness ]. Hes an emcee who has creative sensibility of an amazing mix of rock, blues, hip hop and reggae. E : Jemapur is a classically trained electronic composer and our latest artist is Chinza Dopeness, a freestyle hiphop vocalist.

AFRA / Digital Breath (CD+DVD) 2004.12.7. Release

HIFANA / Channel H (CD+DVD) 2005.8.24. Release

UC a.k.a. DJ Uppercut / Street Revolution (CD) 2005.12.7. Release

HIFANA / Connect (CD+DVD) 2007.8.1. Release

Tokyo.Ten (Book+DVD) 2008. Release

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How is W+K Tokyo Lab different from other music labels? B : Its interesting because we are an independent label, our team is one A&R and five visual artists which makes us kind of a small operation but we are also a kind of major label too. Since last year weve partnered with EMI. We still maintain full creative control over our content and weve been presenting our music over various platforms and reach more people who are into fresh new music and urban culture. Id say our position is really unique compared to most other labels. W+K Tokyo Lab delivers our music in a much different way compared to other labels. We dont just focus on a CD for listening, we also produce a DVD to accompany every release and concept and create visuals for each releases from scratch, whereas other labels usually insert music video or live pieces that were released previously. What we have been doing is creating new audio-visual experiences packaged in a hybrid CD+DVD format along with other elements such as premier packaging and microsites. With the E : We were one of the first labels to experiment with new ways of creating audiovisual albums. While other labels and artists release video compilations over a span of 3-4 albums to create one DVD. We concepted each album to have an equally strong visual component to it, not just produce good music but also great visuals that take the music experience further. So we output hybrid CD/DVDs, design the packaging, create the website and program live events, directing all the visual components ourselves. W+K Tokyo Lab was created as an outlet for creatives within the agency to create in new ways. One of the When looking at potential artists, its from many
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industry in flux, we cannot rely on just a CD anymore. And its because of that approach, were transforming our audiences relationship to music. So for us, its not only just about good music but also about fresh visuals and new, innovative ideas.

ways we achieve this is through the music label, events, exhibitions and also book publishing. In many ways we don't function like a traditional music label. Because we are creative, our decisions lean more towards how to create new ways you can create and experience music. So there are less layers. The people who run the label are the same people who create the videos and the entire music experience. We ourselves become equal artists as the musicians we sign and collaborate with.

angles- we evaluate on criteria like originality and international appeal, but the most important thing for them to have is a high sensibility for our concept, hybrid- if they can be hybridized. Thats what it's all about. From an artist standpoint, W+K Tokyo Lab is also unique as a music label. Once we sign musicians, we give them a degree of freedom that normal record labels would not. It doesnt matter if they are big or not. We release their albums with strong visual identity we develop with each artist including premier packaging and we promote it strategically with our partner EMI.

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E : We sign artists who either have a strong visual component to them, like Takagi who shoots, edits, directs and animates his own music videos; to Hifana who are themselves illustrators of their animated alter ego characters. For the artists who don't have a strong visual side to them, we partner with them to create their visual branding. In both cases, we are very involved in concepting the albums in order to push the boundaries of what the musicians would do alone. So we often start with a lot of conversations and interviews going into each new album. We talk to the artists about what they see the album looking like their inspirations behind the music, etc. and from there form solid directions on how we shape the album visually and musically to deliver a rich audiovisual experience. Some artists like UC are less involved, so we work together hand in hand to develop the concept for the album, while others like Hifana are more hands on hands on and collaborate with us on the visual production of the DVD, the storyline and the design, all the way down to editing on beat. But everything always begins with a conversation... I interview them personally to get a direct feel for who they are, what they want to do, and fuse that with our own approach as an audiovisual label.

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Does an artist always participate in the visual part? How does each project / album work out? B : We take a highly collaborative approach with each artist in order to drive their creativity. When it comes to the visual side, our collaboration with an artist is always 50/50. Following W+Ks DNA, our appetite for creative output is huge. We constantly pursue a higher level in the actual works, and throughout the entire creative process, we try to constantly give the artist creative inspiration to bring them to next level in their expression. For example, for Hifana, it has been a very collaborative process. They are illustrators themselves but we helped them develop their characters a step further into animation sequences. We came up with the ideas and story lines together with them ...and Im the middle man in between them and our visual team. Its actually a really stimulating working relationship.

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How did you find the perfect visuals, design or illustrations for each artist? E : It always depends on the artist. Takagi and Hifana have a strong vision about what they want to look like, how they want to be represented and seen, they control their own perception since they have been big subcultural icons for a while now. UC, Afra, Jemapur and Chinza are much more open so we could define their personas from scratch. But again, this all stems from our conversations with them. We really try to know our artists in order to know how to represent and give them visual form. We become friends along the way, were very much fans of their music and that's why we sign them and want to create visuals for them. B : We always have extensive discussions with the artist at the beginning stages of the collaboration. You both chose Channel H as the best project so far; was there any challenge throughout the production? E : The biggest challenge with Channel H is the production timeline. We budgeted 2 months to produce that album for the visual production and we ended up spending 4 months. Mainly because we are a creative agency and we wanted to push as much as we could of what is possible to do with an album. Hifana came to us with a challenge of wanting to do one music video for each track. And we obliged without knowing what we were really getting ourselves into. It's what happens when we are more creatively driven. The biggest challenge was convincing people to work with us. B : The project itself was a huge challenge. With the given budget and manpower, no one else could produce 43 minutes / over 20 types of video contents with that quality.

Which was the most exciting project so far? B : Hifanas 2nd album Channel H.

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The concept was Hifana hijacking an imaginary TV station, We produced 43 minutes of visual content, featuring more than 20 different pieces. The main video Wamono receved a lot if creative awards including excellent prize in entertainment category of media art festival by Agency of Cultural Affairs of Japan. (2005) E : Album wise, Hifana's CHANNEL H was a huge success for us. It was our first full length video album, concepted as a television channel that Hifana hijacks to pump their own content. We were able to achieve something truly unique and different than anything we have ever seen. At the end of the day, we want to create stuff that we ourselves would like to see and have. To date, the most exciting release for me personally was TOKYO.TEN, simply because it was our first big milestone, 9 albums down and celebrating our 5 years of short history as a label.

Lets talk about the book Tokyo.Ten. What does Tokyo.Ten mean? What is the concept? Does W+K Tokyo Lab also direct videos for other artists who are from other labels? B : We have been approached by other labels and artists including big names, but we always had to pass on those opportunity for various reasons. We have been directing our creativity and energy to our label artists. E : Yes, we have been approached to direct videos for other labels and artists. Always we end up passing on these opportunities since we want to ensure complete creative control ourselves. It's the hardest thing to do in this industry, keep it pure. But we look forward to finding new opportunities to collaborate with different artists everyday. E : In Japanese, the kanji ten means a point, pause or punctuation. TOKYO.TEN is a celebration of our 5 year history. It represents an end as well as a new beginning for us as we restart and refresh the way we do things. Weve been known to do a lot of animated videos, which we did out of necessity because that was what we knew. Our backgrounds were in graphic design and illustration, so we want to expand our creative reach to do new things, constantly build and destroy what we have done and re-invent ourselves. Along the way of our 9 releases we were very fortunate to have met and collaborated with new creators as well as old friends who supported our vision. We wanted our 10th release to be a celebration of this experience and collaboration. Hence, we invited everyone we have ever collaborated with to literally make a point about Except a DVD or animation, could there be any Tokyo, how it has influenced and inspired them. Tokyo.Ten is a Book, Blog and DVD... The book itself is divided in two sections, one side a compilation and archive of our previous 9 releases, the other half new interpretations of what Tokyo is. The book is accompanied by a blog which documents each artists process in creating their interpretation of Tokyo. B : It was our 5th anniversary and 10th release and an important moment for us in our evolving process so we wanted to do something fresh and new. We featured nine visual remixes of our previously released albums in addition to the work of 42 artists [graphic designers, illustrators, photographers] we have collaborated with so far. We wanted them to produce some new works representing their vision of Tokyo based on their own interpretation of the concept Tokyo.Ten. Chinese character Ten means Point. A point is a moment in time, a dot, a location, and a reason for doing something. So we invited them to make their own visual point about the power of Tokyo and Japanese culture.
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other format that W+K Tokyo Lab considers to transform the music? E : Live events are a big thing for us. We usually creative direct our events, such as the recent TOKYO.TEN LIVE. We produced and created the live visuals for that and have been invited to VJ for other events when we lecture. We are also very keen on education. We often do letcures and workshops to help students think more broadly about what they do. Open doors up. B : Besides live events, some kind of a radio program could be interesting. We select good music and transform it into strong visuals.

What is the next step for W+K Tokyo Lab? E : Keep making and re-inveting new experiences in music. B : We will be releasing 2 new artists. Jemapur, a 21 years old beat maker and MC in November, and Chinza Dopeness in March, whos attracting hot attention in the underground hip-hop scene. Well be producing Lab mobile, and events fusing

Do you cook? What is your comfort food? E : I used to cook. Filipino food since I am Flip. But I stopped. Houses in Tokyo are too small. Much less the kitchen. So I eat Thai... everyday.

What does Tokyo mean to you? Any place you suggest to visit in the city?

What does design mean to you? E : Design is a vehicle of expressing what you feel

E : Tokyo is a deep and never ending maze. B : Tokyo is about being hybrid and extreme. If you

about the world around you, a way of communicating with others. Design to me is a conversation, a personal dialogue with the rest of the world. B : Design is the way of expression and communication, which sometimes is very powerful. Good design meets good music, thats the moment I like the best.

B : I'm good at cooking breakfast, usually eggs, toast, fruit and coffee.

have a few days, you should check out the below areas in this order : Omotesando -> Ebisu -> Daikanyama -> Nakameguro -> Shimokitazawa
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What inspires you the most? B : Minimal techno and modern jazz / both physical and online music stores. What does music mean to you?

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music, visuals and technology. What does life mean to you? B : Its my favorite thing and one of the biggest E : Travelling is the one endless source of inspiration for me. New ideas are born from conversations with B : Asalato, African percussion I learned from Hifana. Its a set of 2 balls (nut) with strings with seeds inside. You can make unlimited rhythm patterns with sound tonality. It's a deep musical instrument. E : A travel photo album my wife made for me. It chronicles our explorations and we flip it daily to a new page of juxtaposed images to remind ourselves of where weve been and inspire our next adventure together. other new cultures as well as yourself when you have the luxury to self-reflect. You never stop learning how little you know about LIFE when you keep moving and experiencing something new. And I feel most alive when I am immersed within a new place - seeing, touching, feeling and breathing something new. E : Music is one of the basic and most essential ingredients in life. Music to me is the sixth sense, able to express with sound what words and images cannot do. E : Life is a never ending process of rich experiences that make you better each day. To me, everything exists waiting to be discovered... reasons I exist. Its something essential like water, air. No music, no life. B : Life is about expression. If there are 100 people, there must be 100 ways of expression. For me, Im expressing myself by serving as a catalyst for great musicians / visual artists.

Could you choose one interesting object from your everyday life and tell us why you like it?

D&Life

life at Bangkok

E i

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D & L D & L t r e n d t r e n d On the streets of Bangkok, you will see a lot of Siam... Siam was the name of Thailand before 24 June 1939 and again from 8 September 1945 to 20 July 1949. It also refers to the downtown area in Pathum Wan District, Bangkok.

I N K B a n g k o k

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D & L t r e n d Thai loves pink. Shinny, neon, peach-pink. No matter where you go, it is pink everywhere: on the cloth, on the shoes, on the banner, the food, building facade, graffiti, and almost all the vehicles, especially taxi. Pink is interspersed between alleys, and the color makes the city alive and shine your day.

R D E R out of chaos

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D & L D & L t r e n d t r e n d It is a chaos in Bangkok. The streets are always dusty and crowded but it seems Thai people still can spend their life leisurely and carefree. If you look deep, you would see the order in Bangkok. The weather is hot; the traffic is terrible; but life goes on. Modern and tradition exist moderately.

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Red wine Beef stew

R eci p e, p ho t o g rap hy b y D es i g n&Li f e o nl i ne mi ni z i ne

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[ Whichever red wine you like the most is the perfect ] wine for this dish.

ingredients & steps .

Everyone knows Boeuf Bourguignon (Beef Burgundy), a traditional French cuisine. I called this dish Red wind beef stew, because I think its a joy to use any wine that you think a good one to make this dish, especially when you have some left over red wine. You can also add canned tomato if you want to make the color even more vivid. However, I would like to get the pure sour and sweet after taste only from the wine in this recipe. Dream this, it is a cool Saturday afternoon in the fall, you are reading a book with Lee Konitzs saxophone while the kitchen is spreading out the yummy smell. How a pleasant moment!

2 ponds stewing beef, cut into 1-inch cubes 1 onion 1 carrot 2 potatoes 3 garlic, minced Mixed herbal 1T Dijon mustard

1 / Pan sealed beef cubes both side 2 / Put everything in and add the red wine just covered the ingredients 3 / Medium heat to broil and turn to low heat covered cook for 2 and half hours 55

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