Art of the Mix
Cross-cultural inf luences converge in the work of renowned fashion designer Kenzo Takada, who marks a new milestone with the launch of lifestyle and homeware brand K3 in Paris
It’s been more than two decades since pioneering fashion designer Kenzo Takada quit his namesake brand in 1999, but he has never stopped creating. After taking several years off to travel, he started to miss work and decided to join the world of home decoration, a field in which products have a longer shelf life than the feverish pace of fashion collections.
Now, at the age of 81 and overf lowing with unbridled energy, Takada has launched a new home and lifestyle brand in collaboration with managing partner Jonathan Bouchet Manheim and creative assistant Engelbert Honorat. Three years in the making, K3—whose logo is represented in Japanese characters by three horizontal strokes—made its debut with a 300-piece collection crafted by Italian and Japanese artisans. Presented at the Maison & Objet fair held in January in Paris, the brand also simultaneously opened its first showroom on the city’s Left Bank.
Engelbert Honorat, Kenzo Takada and Jonathan Bouchet Manheim helm lifestyle brand K3; the Maiko collection from K3 features fiery tones inspired by the attire of young geishas
“Design can be used to improve your sense of well being through the use of colours and patterns together. It’s about harmony, joy, comfort and contrasts”
For Takada, design is about the art of living. “Design can be used to improve your sense of well being through the use of colours and patterns together. It’s about harmony, joy, comfort and contrasts,” he says. “For K3, we want to bring a mix of cultures, poetry and
(joy of life in French). My ideal interior is one where comfort invites you to stay at home. I like something that is soft and poetic, not aggressive. I like to dream.” For instance, his wallcoverings propose peaceful images of the sky and landscapes, providing the impression of escape.
One of the first Japanese designers to settle in Paris, Takada surmounted stereotypes against Asians in the fashion industry at the time. Having made a name for himself through joyous and colourful graphics, his emblematic style can now be found in K3. Some aspects came naturally to Takada, like conceiving cross-cultural aesthetics that delight both Asian and European audiences—something he had introduced in the 1970s before Japanese designers Rei Kawakubo, Yohji Yamamoto and Issey Miyake made headlines at Paris Fashion Week.
With the preciousness of the fabrics, lightness of forms and refinement of lines, Takada continues to build bridges between East and West. “I thought when I reached 60 that I wanted to stop working and retire. But in the end, I keep starting over again and again and again, even now at my age. I’m very lucky.”