Jeanne Signoles, the designer of L/UNIFORM, came to Japan in time for the release. In this interview, Jeanne and Hiroshi Fujiwara, who met for the first time in a while, speak to us about how they met and came to release THE BIG BAG BY FRAGMENT. Further, as someone who loves Japan, Jeanne tells us how she enjoys Japan. 

Wanting to put out the bag while being in Japan

——It was moving to see the two of you talk to each other and rejoice in reuniting. Has it been a long time?

Hiroshi Fujiwara (Fujiwara): It’s been three years. 

Jeanne Signoles (Jeanne): The last time we saw each other was here (Grand Hyatt Tokyo). You haven’t changed, Hiroshi-san. I’ve been to Japan many times, but I couldn’t for a long time because of covid.

Fujiwara: We started working on THE BIG BAG BY FRAGMENT project, which just came out, when we met last time. L/UNIFORM Tokyo just opened then (April 2019), so we were preparing for the bag to be sold there and had finished designing it. But the project stopped because of covid.

Jeanne: Yeah. We were ready to launch it anytime, but we value collaboration. I wanted to release the bag when I could go to Japan.

Fujiwara: Even after covid, Jeanne and I kept in touch. I reached out to her some months ago and said, “What should we do?” and we began working towards releasing it. 

Jeanne: I was planning to launch it whenever I could go to Japan, but I couldn’t for a long time. I couldn’t go to Japan, but I decided to release it in April because I got tired of waiting. Then, I learned you could go to Japan on a business visa, so I rushed to get it, and here I am in Japan today. 

——I heard you got THE BIG BAG BY FRAGMENT made based on L/UNIFORM’s No.54 bag. Was there anything you were particular about regarding getting the bag custom-made?

Fujiwara: I always use the same bag, so I asked them to make a bag that’s easy to use as that one. I got them to make long straps so it’s easy to carry, added additional handles on the sides, and changed the fabric to a canvas in a single layer to make it light.

Jeanne: I didn’t make any design requests. When I heard Hiroshi’s ideas, I naturally felt like we could create something brilliant. 

Hiroshi-san was the first person who came to France to see the office

——It sounds like you trust Fujiwara-san. How did you two meet?

eanne: Before we met, I heard about Hiroshi-san from Sarah from Colette (Sarah Andelman, the creative director of the now-closed boutique Colette in Paris) and our mutual friend Frederick. I met him for the first time through Frederick. 

Fujiwara: He introduced us because she was launching a new bag brand. 

Jeanne: Hiroshi-san came to my office in France. But I had just launched the brand, so the office wasn’t complete yet.

Fujiwara: Did you already have products available at the time?

Jeanne: No, we were still producing prototypes then. We started selling products at the shop in September. Hiroshi-san visited in June. 

——Did many people come and visit from abroad, like Fujiwara-san?

Jeanne: Hiroshi-san was the first person who came to France to visit. It was an honor to have an influential person in Japanese fashion come, and I still remember how I explained the products to him. 

Fujiwara: You explained each product in detail. Many luxury French bags have eye-catching designs, like monograms, but L/UNIFORM specializes in canvas fabrics, and their bags are for everyday use. The bags are high-end, but I felt drawn to how they don’t look that way at first glance. I was trying to start The Pool Aoyama then, and for our previous collaboration, I had them make custom bags because I wanted to have special bags for the store.

he daily lives of Japanese people are full of craftsmanship

——I heard you like Japanese culture, Jeanne-san. What do you look forward to when you visit?

Jeanne: I came to Japan for the first time in 1998 because of my husband’s work. I’ve been greatly influenced by Japanese culture ever since. I try to visit different places when I come to Japan. I went to Naoshima to see Tadao Ando’s architecture, Mandarake in Nakano Broadway to see toys and anime merchandise, and the Tokyo International Forum to dig through stuff at the flea market. I read a lot of Japanese literature too. I like Haruki Murakami.

I also love exploring on my bike. I cycle on the back streets without looking at a map. People ask me if I don’t get lost cycling in a foreign country without looking at a map, but in Japan, you always reach the main road at some point. So, I’ve never been lost here. I’ve been to places like Tsukiji and Sendagi on my bike. I want to go on a bike if I have time on this trip.

——Do you like areas where people live more than tourist spots?

Jeanne: Famous stores in Aoyama and Omotesando and museums are great, but it’s so fun to look at back streets and residential areas and find a small shop to visit. I often feel like Japanese people’s everyday lives are filled with craftsmanship when I see various things in residential areas. In France, craftsmanship has decreased a lot, so when I see it in Japan, I respect it and get a lot of inspiration.

Fujiwara: It’s dangerous for me to do something similar in France. I often hear Japanese tourists getting mugged in back streets abroad. 

Jeanne: Crimes like that happen, but I think it’s okay for you to do what I do. But Japan is a different case. I once bought so many things and left my shopping bags somewhere, but they came back to me intact and without any trace of anyone going through them. That surprised me. When I lost my passport, I realized it was gone two days after, but I found it safe and sound. Japan is the only country with an environment like that, where such miraculous things happen constantly. It’s different from other countries. Rather than other countries being dangerous, Japan is just special. 

——Lastly, is there anything you want to ask Fujiwara-san, who you met for the first time in a while?

Jeanne: What’s your next project?

Fujiwara: A new project… I want to travel. 

Jeanne: Interesting. Because of covid, we can’t go back and forth all over the world, so the idea of travel has changed for people. Even in France, when there were lockdowns in Paris, many people rented small houses in the countryside to live and discover new things there. Also, you couldn’t go on short-distance flights, so sleeper trains started running. 

I’m looking forward to seeing what sort of new travel will start and what sort of project Hiroshi-san will work on precisely because we’ve experienced covid for these past two years. Things might not go back to the way they used to be. 

Hiroshi Fujiwara 
Musician, music producer, and owner of fragment design. Hiroshi Fujiwara began working as a DJ in the 80s, and afterward, he broadened his musical career while working in the fashion industry using his unique taste and aesthetic. In fragment design, Fujiwara’s creative direction goes beyond any genre. Instagram：@fujiwarahiroshi

Jeanne Signoles  
Born in Bordeaux, France. Jeanne Signoles is CEO and art director of L/UNIFORM, a bag brand. After working in the airline industry and finance business, she joined Goyard. Signoles started L/UNIFORM in 2014, and in April 2019, she opened L/UNIFORM Tokyo, its first flagship store in Japan.
Instagram：@jeannesignoles

Photography Shunsuke Shiga
Text Kango Shimoda
Translation Lena Grace Suda

The post Being inspired by Japan, being drawn to L/UNIFORM: an interview with Hiroshi Fujiwara and Jeanne Signoles appeared first on TOKION - Cutting edge culture and fashion information.

The items collaborated with “fragment design” organized by Hiroshi Fujiwara and British culture magazine “THE FACE” are now on sale today at TOKION official online store and TOKiON the STORE at Miyashita park in shibuyua.

Featured designs based on the magazine’s past covers and logo font sets are printed on T-shirts JPY8,000, long-sleeved T-shirts JPY10,000, hoodie JPY15,000, raincoats JPY38,000. Other items include tote bags JPY6,000, pouches JPY5,000, beanies JPY6,500, caps JPY6,500, stickers JPY900, and mirrors JPY18,000.

THE FACE was first published in London in 1980. The special features that transcended the boundaries of cultures, fashion and art attracted the support of young people and was a leading British magazine through the 1980’s and ‘90’s. 16 year old Kate Moss made her magazine cover debut with this magazine.

Hiroshi Fujiwara selected covers from issues featuring musician Sinead O’Connor photographed by German photographer, Jürgen Teller as well as Robert De Niro, Björk, and Ray Petri, stylist and founder of the fashion house, Buffalo.

In Japan, the merchandise is only available on the official TOKION official online store and TOKiON the STORE at Miyashita Park in Shibuya, Tokyo. 

The post “fragment design” and British culture magazine “THE FACE” collaborated and released items today at the TOKION E-STORE and TOKiON the STORE appeared first on TOKION - Cutting edge culture and fashion information.

Now, about 40 years since Hiroshi Fujiwara first encountered The Face, he’s being reunited with it. And this time, it’s through a collaboration between his creative brand, fragment design, and The Face. The collection will be available for purchase on the online store of British shop Selfridges from December 1st, as well as TOKION’s online store and TOKiON the STORE in Miyashita park from December 12^th. In anticipation of this collaboration, I asked Hiroshi Fujiwara about how he first came across The Face, his experiences in London, and the background behind the collaboration. 

The Face was the first magazine to fuse everything from fashion to music.

When did you first come across The Face?

Hiroshi Fujiwara: Around when it first came out. They had it at the clothing and record stores I would go to. At the time, I was going through a phase where I was basically only interested in stuff coming out of London.

What was your first impression of The Face?

Fujiwara: That there was finally a quality magazine in color. RECORD MIRROR was also in color, but it mainly focused on music, and it was a tabloid. There weren’t any other magazines with color photos of indie pop stars, so I can vividly remember when I first laid eyes on The Face. I was fascinated by the fact that it covered a range of cultural topics from music to fashion, spanning across the established and the underground. I thought, “This is my dream magazine.”

The Face featured people I liked at the time, like Vivienne [Westwood] and Malcolm [McLaren], and had a lot of covers with artists I liked, like [Bow Wow Wow]. So I was completely engrossed in reading it.

What other magazines were you reading at the time?

Fujiwara: I was reading the music magazine New Musical Express, and also Japanese magazines like POPEYE and an-an. It was a time when the only way to get information was through books, so I would go to the bookstore nearly every day. Maybe that was the only way to have fun.

Until then, music and fashion magazines were separate entities, so there weren’t any magazines that mixed music and fashion like The Face did. Maybe they still don’t exist.

In the ‘80s, there was no internet, so magazines were the only way to access youth culture. What did The Face mean to you and other young people of your generation?

Fujiwara: For me, it was the only way I could find out about what was happening overseas. Like, what was happening with punk overseas. I would follow everything through Japanese music magazines, but for example, I think the first time I ever saw a clear color photo of Bow Wow Wow was in The Face.

In the ‘80s, information was slow and the possibilities were endless

What part of British music, fashion, and subculture were you into in the ‘80s?

Fujiwara: I was into it all equally. I can’t really think of it separately like only music, or only fashion. I’ve liked England since I was a middle schooler, and the first thing that I liked on my own was punk. With punk, fashion and music come hand in hand, and that was also what appealed to me most. Before that, I listened to The Beatles, but I felt like it was the kind of music that “good kids” listened to. Later, I looked it up and found out that in their early days, the Beatles were rebellious—but punk bands like The Sex Pistols were the first to make me feel that rebellious spirit back then.

Punk was a fusion of fashion and music, just like The Face.

Fujiwara: Punk was the first to do that, which was why it was sensational. These days, it’s no longer a thing that people can’t separate music and fashion. No one dresses like Lady Gaga. (laughs) Most artists just wear fashion that already exists, right? But maybe in hip hop, fashion and music are still fused together. People want to wear clothes like Travis [Scott], and so on.

Why do you think music and fashion was so inseparable back then?

Fujiwara: Because in the ‘80s, there was still the possibility of creating something new. These days, nothing is new. There’s no need for it. Back then, I feel like new things were being created one after another.

So it was a totally different time from today’s information overload.

Fujiwara: It was totally different, and information was slow in a good way. If something new came out, it took about a year for it to gradually gain traction, and the time something spent underground was longer than it is today. And by the time we caught up to something, it had already gone in a different direction.

Today, information gets to us quickly, so things become popular in an instant. And then they disappear right away.

Fujiwara: Right. But I’m just saying that’s how things used to be, not that it’s good or bad. At the time, fashion and music were cutting-edge and interesting, but I don’t know if it’s the same today. Maybe innovation in medicine or technology, or video games, are more interesting today. I guess there weren’t even video games back them.

On Buffalo, the legendary creative collective that worked with The Face

Is there anything that your work and The Face have in common? The Face covers culture as a whole, and your work defies genres. I feel like there are some things in common.

Fujiwara: People say that today, but at the time, it was obvious that music and fashion would be connected. A magazine like The Face came out of the fact that fashion and music coexisted in the streets.

With this collaboration, how did it feel to work with the magazine you’d always admired?

Fujiwara: To put it simply, I was happy. It was fun to choose the covers too.

Are there any covers you chose this time that you have special memories attached to?

Fujiwara: This cover featuring Sinead O’Connor, shot by Juergen Teller. My friend John Maybury directed Sinead O’Connor’s music video for “Nothing Compares 2 U.” When I first went to London in 1982, John gave me a place to stay.

I heard that when you were 18 in 1982, you spent two months in London. What was London like at the time?

Fujiwara: Music and fashion culture were getting really big. I was truly lucky to be able to experience London during that period.

Before you visited London for the first time, were you reading The Face to get your imagination going?

Fujiwara: Yeah. Although when I actually went, some things were different from what I’d imagined. For example, it wasn’t all beautiful women who looked like models. (laughs) Or when I went to a club, I thought they’d be playing singles from the UK charts, but they were just playing regular disco from New York. And sometimes there’d be people there who were dressed sort of punk.

At the time, were you dressed head-to-toe in Seditionaries-esque clothing?

Fujiwara: I was, but in London at the time, that style had just gone out, so maybe people were thinking, “I didn’t know there were Japanese kids who dressed like that.” Maybe because of that, everyone was nice and talked to me. I was never in any danger. In London at the time, there was a rule, or I guess a culture, of sharing with each other, so people were sharing rooms or sharing taxis with strangers on the way home from the club. At the club, there were people from all over England dressed in weird clothing, and there was a feeling of solidarity in being minorities. I was part of that too.

In ‘80s London, were you influenced most by Malcolm McLaren? Was there anyone else?

Fujiwara: My biggest influence may have been Malcolm, but this collective called Buffalo was also cool. It was led by a stylist named Ray Petri, and Barry Kamen and Jamie Morgan were also part of it. Kate [Moss] and Naomi [Campbell] were also friends of Buffalo. At the time, the people in Buffalo all wore black MA-1s, and we called them “Buffalo jackets.” I wore a Buffalo jacket too. And my shoes were Dr. Martens.

Ray unfortunately passed away, but he was stylish. I still remember the March 1985 edition of The Face that he styled.

When you look at The Face covers you selected, how do you feel?

Fujiwara: They haven’t lost their freshness, or I guess, they’re still refined. Maybe there’s a lot a graphic designer could learn from it. I think I was also really influenced by The Face without even realizing.

Depth is what makes fashion and music so interesting

You’re a fashion designer, musician, and producer. Do those different areas of your work influence each other?

Fujiwara: I would like them to. But I don’t know if they actually do. These days, they’re considered completely separate. Personally, I want people who listen to Travis to wear Nikes. Or if they listen to Billie Eilish, they could incorporate even just a little bit of green. I want to imagine some kind of [link between music and fashion].

So you want music and fashion to come as a pair.

Fujiwara: But these days, everything becomes mainstream in an instant, so I guess there are a lot of people who just take things as they come. There’s no depth. I think there are a lot of people who listen to music without being aware of what kind of shoes the artist is wearing. In our day, we would really get to the bottom of what kind of clothes the artists we liked wore, or what kind of stuff they liked. There wasn’t a lot of information, so it was natural to do that.

The current state of information is different. Do you want young people today to know about what it was like in the time of The Face?

Fujiwara: Yeah. There’s part of me that wants to tell them that everything had depth, and that’s actually what’s interesting. If you’re interested in something, you should be willing to dig into it. But there are creators who purposely hide their true nature. So people who don’t pick up on things will just pass over art on a superficial level. But isn’t it fun to notice something on your own? I feel that way—it’s more fun if the people who pay attention notice things about my work and enjoy it.

So The Face was a magazine that let you feel that depth.

Fujiwara: It truly was, and I think The Face also taught me how great independent stuff is. The Face can put unknown models and famous superstars side by side. Even pop stars can become cooler by being in an independent magazine. There are people who would be happy to be in The Face even if there was no money involved. That’s also what’s cool about it. I think The Face was a role model for independent magazines.

Hiroshi Fujiwara
Fujiwara is a musician, producer, and chairman of fragment design. In 1980, he started out as a club DJ. Later on, he began to expand his work as a musician while simultaneously beginning a career in fashion with his unique style and aesthetic sense. Through his brand fragment design, he is a genre-defying creative director.
Instagram：@fujiwarahiroshi

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The collaboration between fragment design x The Face will be available for online purchase at British shop Selfridges and TOKION, as well as at TOKiON the STORE in Miyashita park.

・Selfridges online store (Available from December 1st)
https://www.selfridges.com/

・TOKION online store（Available from December 12th）
https://estore.tokion.jp/collections/all

The post Hiroshi Fujiwara on London in the ‘80s and his upcoming collaboration with The Face appeared first on TOKION - Cutting edge culture and fashion information.

“Archive” and “things that I like” – What kind of music scenes and movements have become the blood and flesh of Hiroshi Fujiwara? From his “addiction” to punk rock in middle school, to his encounter with hip hop in New York and his career in house music as a DJ; while unraveling his new album “Slumber 2,” we explore the past and present of musician Hiroshi Fujiwara.

The “smooth and natural process” from punk rock to hip hop

–Punk and hip hop; I think that these two genres are important to you, but first of all, I would like to ask you the reason why you were obsessed with them.

Hiroshi: I got into punk around when I was in my second year of middle school. Children at that age like rebellious, bad boy-ish stuff, right? I think punk hit that spot just right. I sympathized with punk’s defiant spirit and style, which is different from bōsōzoku (Japanese motorcycle gangs).  In 1982, I went to London because of that, but the next year I moved to New York. Malcolm McLaren, who I met in London, told me that New York’s hip hop was getting interesting and suggested that I go there. At the time, musically speaking, punk was over, and hip hop was starting to catch everyone’s interest. Malcolm too, but also “The Clash” were trying to make something with hip-hop, and shortly after, “Sex Pistols” Johnny Rotten also collaborated with Afrika Bambaataa. It was a time when the people who were doing punk were also trying to adopt hip hop in their music.

–Punk rock and hip hop were strong influences for you at the time; what do they mean for you now?

Hiroshi: Punk has a lot of spirituality. It’s the kind of attitude that makes you do something a little strange or make fun of something popular. Hip hop is based on sampling, which is like reconstructing from what you already have, and that’s fascinating. This had an impact not only on music but on fashion as well.

–In Japan, you were active as a DJ since around 1983, and then formed the hip hop group “Tiny Panx” with Kan Takagi, which led to the advent of Japanese hip hop. In 1994, you released your first solo album “Nothing Much Better To Do,” declaring that “this is the beginning.” What did you mean by that?

Hiroshi: I simply meant that I wanted to hit the reset button once and release my solo album; nothing more. Before then, there was no release under my real name. However, as always, I wanted to make something different from other people, something weird for that album. At the time, step-recorded house music and ground beat (Japanese name for British soul music) were mainstream. It was full of people making music with brilliant diva-type singers, so in “Nothing Much Better To Do,” I went for types of music and singers that were different from the mainstream, like Terry Hall of “The Specials.”

–Why did you start pursuing music that is different from hip hop? Hiroshi: One of the big reasons is because I started liking house (which originates from disco) and house-like music more than hip hop. It was around the time when Public Enemy became popular and hip hop, in general, was advocating for “Black Power” and getting to be more and more serious. I’m Japanese, and I’m not really good at expressing my nationality, so I guess that’s what distanced me from hip hop.

To be honest, I make music and am influenced by what I like at the moment

–In recent years, you have also started to sing for yourself, which makes you more of a singer-songwriter. Before that, I think your style used to be more about expressing different world views by featuring various artists. What was your turning point?

Hiroshi: I just found the right timing inside of myself to stop with featuring projects. After all, with featuring, 70% of what you make goes to the featured person, which is also a good thing, but I’ve come to think that if I want to put out what’s in my head, I should sing myself.

–Your previous album “slumbers,” has been released by “NF Records,” which is owned by Sakanaction’s Ichirō Yamaguchi. How did that happen?

Hiroshi: It all started when a friend introduced me to Yamaguchi-Kun, and we got along. After that, I got to be in charge of remixing Sakanaction’s “Rookie.” Then, at some point, while talking to Yamaguchi-Kun about my album, I asked him if we could release it under his label, and he said: “let’s definitely do that.” And that’s how it got released.

–There is an age gap between you and Yamaguchi-San, but do you think you have a similar sense of music?

Hiroshi: I get interested in a lot of things, but I feel like Yamaguchi-Kun’s whole way of life is completely “music-centric,” and that may be different from me. However, he is a very charming person; there is something that draws people to him.

–Shunsuke Watanabe was working as a sound producer for your previous work too. You know him since you formed the band “AOEQ” with Yōichi Kuramochi of Magokoro Brothers, right?

Hiroshi: He has been on tour with me as a keyboard player since the days of AOEQ. We started working together because I fell in love with his sound. It’s very easy to produce music with him; he’s great at translating whatever I ask for advice from him into sound.

–It seems like getting along and falling in love are very important things for you.

Hiroshi: I would say so.

–In this new album, I’ve noticed many demo-sounding parts, like guitars that sound like they were recorded at home. It sounds like you were really enjoying the production process; were you trying to experiment with something new?

Hiroshi: For the most, I’m doing everything the way I’ve always done so far, but it may be my first time to sing disco-like songs by myself.

–In your song “SPRINGLIKE,” you’re whistling the main melody. I thought that was fresh.

Hiroshi: That’s a sample of a whistling instrument, so I’m playing it with a keyboard. I’m partially taking inspiration from Frankie Knuckles’ “Whistle Song,” which everyone in our generation knows about.

–You made music videos for every original song in the album, except for the covers. I was surprised to see you dance in the music video for “TERRITORY.”

Hiroshi: It’s been a while since the last time I made music videos. Yamaguchi-Kun suggested me to make them, but I thought it was too hard and expensive (laughs). I tried dancing for that song because it’s disco-like. There used to be a TV show called “Soul Train” that aired in the United States from 1971 to 2006, which I was also watching on Youtube, and the way people dance in that show is not too technical, it just looks like they’re having a good time dancing. I wanted to express that kind of feeling, so I decided to dance in the video.

–While producing a track, are you consciously thinking about generational differences in music?

Hiroshi: Not that much. The important thing is if I like what I’m doing or not. To be honest, I make music and am influenced by whatever I like at the moment. It doesn’t matter if it’s from the past or the present, it’s good once it goes through my filter. That is true not only for music but for fashion too.

–In recent years, city pop has been through a revival, and I was wondering how you’re digesting it. As a listener, do you have any thoughts about this music phenomenon?

Hiroshi: Actually, I haven’t listened to city pop in great detail. I very much like the new wave of city pop that is being made around Thailand, Indonesia, and all over Asia in recent years, though.

–You don’t even listen to Eiichi Ohtaki’s stuff from back in the days?

Hiroshi: I haven’t listened to that at all. Before going to middle school and listening to punk rock voluntarily, I was forced to listen to Yuming or whatever my older sister would put on since we shared the same room. From middle school on, I was all about Western music, and I couldn’t listen to Japanese music at all. However, thinking back, I think I was partially influenced by the 70s folk music my sister used to listen to. Listening to that stuff again now, I realize there are many good songs. Makoto Kubota, for example, I like him a lot.

–I guess folk music is part of your roots as a singer and composer.

Hiroshi: I think so. I think Sakanaction’s music also has folk-like roots. When Yamaguchi-Kun shows me his new songs, sometimes the chord progression is very folk. They’re really great at arranging though, so they make it sound almost like house music. I feel like they do some really cool stuff that I can’t do myself. It’s kind of what I felt when I heard Towa Tei making music in Japanese for the first time.

–How is your process of writing lyrics? The lyrics for “PASTORAL ANARCHY” in the new album feel quite ideological.

Hiroshi: When writing lyrics, I write down interesting words and sentences regularly, and once a theme is decided, I put them all together like a puzzle or a collage. For “PASTORAL ANARCHY” though, I wanted to make it into a song since way back. In an area of southern Switzerland known as Ascona, there is a place called Monte Verità where thinkers and anarchists who were disgusted by the German industrial revolution moved in to form a commune around the year 1890. I have been there many times, so I wrote the lyrics about its sceneries and utopian ideals. I wasn’t very aware of it, but it kind of matches the mood of the world these days. I don’t have a precise idea of utopia, but I am interested in the state of mind of people with such ideas.

–Regarding your new album, Yamaguchi-San of Sakanaction said that he could feel your loneliness even more than the previous album. The word “loneliness” really left an impression on me; does it ring a bell for you?

Hiroshi: It doesn’t (laughs). However, this album was undoubtedly influenced by what Yamaguchi-Kun’s NF Records and Sakanaction are doing. If it wouldn’t be the case, I would have never made such cold, house music sounding tracks. When I listened to NF Records’s music and all the DJs who work around Yamaguchi-Kun, I thought it’d be nice to include such elements.

It’s a culture scene that doesn’t evolve, but I still love music

–What genres of music are you personally focusing on, recently?

Hiroshi: I listen to both old and current music at random so I can’t say which one is better, but I also listen to a lot of new indie songs. The Asian city pop music I was mentioning earlier is good, and I also really like Beadoobee’s voice.

–In an earlier interview, you said that “fashion and culture haven’t evolved much since 1990.  I often hear about 90s revivals, but the 90s might just not be over in the first place.” Do you see this “non-evolving culture scene” as boring?

Hiroshi: I don’t think it’s boring. However, it’d be nice to see or hear something that I have never seen or heard before.

–Why did music stop evolving after the 90s?

Hiroshi: In terms of music, samplers had a great influence on the music from the late 80s to the 90s. However, I don’t think that there has been anything revolutionary that changed the scene after that. Even vaporwave and chill-out music are actually influenced by the music that was created in the 80s and 90s. The same goes for fashion; these cultures have entered their evolutionary period of maturity. For example, from now on, we could enter a new period of evolution for different fields such as medical care, and that may entwine with music, creating something interesting that has never existed before. Like, if you listen to this beat, you will live longer, or this melody will cure your cold, or something like that (laughs). Whether new or old, I love music and fashion.

slumbers 2
This album is Hiroshi Fujiwara’s first original album in three years. In addition to a simple edition consisting of ten songs and bonus tracks, a deluxe and limited edition (only 2500 sets) was released at the same time. The deluxe edition, in addition to the standard edition’s CD, comprises different versions of all songs in the album, such as dub remixes, a special CD containing the music from the short movie “HARMONY” directed by Rinko Kawauchi, and a T-shirt. The streaming version also contains another version of “WALKING MEN” with lyrics written by YUKI.
www.jvcmusic.co.jp/fujiwarahiroshi/slumbers2/

Hiroshi Fujiwara
Musician, music producer, and founder of fragment design. He started being active as a club DJ in the 80s and formed “Tiny Panx” with Kan Takagi in 1985. From the 90s, he has expanded his activities to music production, composition and arrangement. Since 2011, he has also been performing in the band “AOEQ” formed with Magoro Brothers’ Yōichi Kuramochi. As a solo artist, he released the albums “manners” in October 2013, “slumbers” in November 2017 and “Slumber 2” on this year’s October 7.

Photography Kentaro Oshio

Translation Leandro Di Rosa

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