Azuma Makoto, the artist and botanical sculptor known for his breathtakingly beautiful and daring floral arrangements, started out in the Tokyo music scene playing bass in a rock band.But eventually, he was drawn to the siren song of flowers: first, with a job as a trader in a flower market, then, by opening his own shop, Jardins des Fleurs, in 2001. “The beauty of flowers comes with changing the context”, he explains, referring to his apparatus-like sculptures where he augments the flower by using industrial materials and devices. I was shocked! This final icy installation is absolutely stunning, but wait, there’s more! We don’t really need things to ‘stay’ I think. Flowers are not forever, they last for a certain amount of time and that thought feeds my creativity. I’m not really interested in painting. Die Eisskulpturen, die er für Miele kreiert hat, zeigen genau diesen Moment – und machen ihn erlebbar für andere. Find out more about Azumas work here. You grew up in Fukuoka what does this city mean to you? I am only interested in flowers. It is more about meeting this particular flower with this particular feeling and the fact that I meet this flower in a particular moment, that is what fascinates me and that is why I think I use flowers as my medium of choice. That is why we have to talk a lot. You are also doing a lot of client work. It may have its roots in the job that he took at Tokyo’s Ota Flower market to help pay the bills while he was a struggling musician. I feel like if I combine it with a man-made object, the flowers become even more beautiful. This combination really draws the attention to the beauty of nature and this is what I want to show. Our work here is not only about creating something and then giving it to somebody, the story continues and that’s the fun part about working with flowers. N. T・STOMACH HOUSE. RELATED. While the name may evoke romantic associations with Southern France, upon entry it becomes instantly clear that Azuma-san breaks with this notion radically. We have to fit really well. While in the studio I stumbled on his series of prints from his Distortion & Flowers projects and immediately was attracted by these visuals. Weil er von ihrer Zerbrechlichkeit fasziniert ist und dieses empfindliche Medium leidenschaftlich gerne nutzt, um Grenzen auszutesten und zu überschreiten. Many artists work with a variety of materials, they go from oil to ink and so on. Every flower is very different, even if it is all red roses. The wild plants in Amazonas really shocked me and surprised me a lot. Wenn man Großes bewirken möchte, braucht man ein Werkzeug, dem man vertrauen kann. Flowers and plants are very natural things. Tokyo is not really fun for me anymore. Gasp! They become something very different – like an apparatus. This final icy installation is absolutely stunning, but wait, there’s more! He came to Tokyo in 1997 to make his debut in a rock band with four members. It’s very different from, for example, catching a moment in a photograph. I do both but I prefer to go with an empty mind and just deal with the situation over there. JARDINS des FLEURS is a laboratory filled with objects that you would expect to see next to an operating table rather than a flower bouquet. If I need a certain flower from abroad I can always ask them and I can have it here in Japan. Eine Treppe höher über der Blumenboutique hat Makoto sein Studio eingerichtet, nennt es „AMKK“ – das japanische Akronym für „Azuma Makoto Botaniklabor“. While the name may evoke romantic associations with Southern France, upon entry it becomes instantly clear that Azuma-san breaks with this notion radically. And it’s the same with music, if you play in anger, in a calm manner, play it here or play it there, the music changes even if it’s the same chord. Ein Werkzeug, das die Verlängerung des Körpers darstellt und mit dem man jedes kleine Detail unter Kontrolle hat. We are selling time in a way, the changing process is part of it along with the question of time. In the case of Tokyo however, there is one trait that permeates everything: density. I got into this job because I started to work in a flower market. Gasp! Of course they can’t bring everything so on my trip to the Amazonas I did the artwork and took pictures over there. The client is asking me to work with them because they believe that I am able to capture their image well. I guess I am not interested in things that will leave something behind. For me it was just very interesting to be surrounded by all these living objects and to create something with these objects. Absolutely. I try to escape the city a lot. Japanese artist Makoto Azuma has built a career from a "new genre of art" that blends plants with artificial mediums to strikingly beautiful effect. So I kind of feel like I give time and moments to my clients. Posted on 19/09/2010 19/03/2019 Author alessio guarino Posted in Art SIte, Portraits Tagged Artsite, Flowers, Makoto Azuma, Portraits. For me Tokyo is really more like a work place, not a place where I find inspiration. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Tokyo’s charm lies in its ability to create space where there is no space. In around 2005 Azuma adopted a new form of flower arranging which he called botanical sculpture. Once you turn away from the big intersections, you will find yourself in a maze of little streets, tiny shops and residential houses. Azuma, who founded the high-end store Jardins des Fleurs in Tokyo in 2002, began staging ambitious feats of flower art under the experimental studio–cum–research institute called Azuma Makoto Kaju Kenkyujo (AMKK) in 2008. Aber auch, Menschen zu bereichern. This is very much my approach. Not far from Omotesando Dori with its juxtaposition of architectural masterpieces, you will find a place dedicated to the pure beauty of nature: JARDINS des FLEURS. Minami Aoyama is one of these sacred areas. Exposé #14: Azuma Makoto, flower artist from Tokyo, Japan. Warum? Die Blumen exakt anzuordnen und währenddessen mit ihnen zu kommunizieren versetzt Makoto in einen meditativen Zustand. Wenn man den renommierten Künstler Azuma Makoto fragt, was seine größte Inspiration ist, wird er, ohne zu zögern, antworten: „Die Natur“. And his list of clients attests to his approach. Als Sohn eines Koches hat Makoto seinem Vater oft bei der Arbeit zugesehen und gleichzeitig großen Respekt und Begeisterung für diese Profession entwickelt: „Kochen ist große Kunst und sehr ähnlich zur Blumenkunst. I met this guy when I was in Amazonas, he was 70 years old and had been studying flowers for 40 years and he said he only knows approximately 30% of the Amazonas plants. How did former Japanese punk rocker, Azuma Makoto, become a world renown flower artist? Ob in meinem Studio in Tokyo oder auf meinen Reisen – Blumen spielen immer eine Rolle in meinem täglichen Leben.“. I went to Mexico recently and I visited UNA – Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico – which is a huge university and they have this Piazza. 411 talking about this. At Jardins des Fleurs, the retail shop Azuma operates on a quiet backstreet in Tokyo’s Aoyama district, an unassuming steel staircase at the entrance leads to a completely refrigerated subterranean space more reminiscent of a lab than a florist’s studio. Are you interested in art in general where works are built for eternity? Oct 6 Azuma Makoto. Creativity Through Botanical Sculpture by Makoto Azuma. In beiden Bereichen wählt, arrangiert und kontrolliert man natürliche Materialien – und denkt darüber nach, was man damit bei Menschen auslösen kann.“ Hätte er sich nicht dafür entschieden, seine Kreativität mit Blumen auszudrücken, könnte man sich Azuma auch gut in seiner Küche vorstellen, wie er mit Miele Technologie kunstvolle Gerichte erschafft. This is the studio of flower artist Azuma Makoto. I never thought about it in this way though. I’m sure you’ve seen this artist’s work before, perhaps his “Botanical Space Flight” {flowers in space… seriously}. The studio JARDINS des FLEURS is located in the heart of Tokyo. As you probably know Japan has a famous tradition of flower art called Ikebana and so a lot of people think in a very conservative way about flowers. No not really, I really feel like flowers are the most beautiful piece of art you can have, especially in our modern society. This is the studio of flower artist Azuma Makoto. It is a playful attitude towards an environment that is ruled by concrete. Botanical sculpture is simply something that is produced through my creative work, but it is actually the process of creating a work of art which is made of plants and flowers that have precious lives with short life cycle, and it turns into something like a sculpture by being arranged by a human being. Studio Sunday: Azuma Makoto Today on Studio Sunday let’s take a look inside the studio of Azuma Makoto. Making music is creating a piece of work by layering this process, so I guess it is very similar to flowers. Tokyo seems like a concrete jungle, that’s true, but at the same time this is only the center, if you drive only one hour away you can find beautiful scenery. Fragt man Makoto nach seiner Arbeitsweise, wird er sofort von seiner Schere erzählen. Bob Hambly. Since we as humans use that to create an artwork, I really wanted to include something man-made in contrast. Trotz allem verlässt er auch oft seine Heimatstadt, um die Welt zu bereisen, seine Kunst auszustellen und vorzuführen oder neue Blumen und Pflanzen zu entdecken. Yet, he also often crosses the borders of his hometown to travel the world, exhibiting, performing, and discovering new types of flowers or plants. I am very tired of being surrounded by so many things. Das Epizentrum seines kreativen Schaffens ist seine exklusive Blumen-Boutique in Tokio. Creativity Through Botanical Sculpture by Makoto Azuma. Makoto is a Japanese artist who works in the unusual medium of flowers, growing them, sometimes splicing them and otherwise affecting their development, and … Eine jede ist eine Einladung, alles bisher Dagewesene zu überschreiten. Makoto Azuma Ein weltweit einzigartiger Blumenkünstler. Yes I travel a lot these days so I get to discover many kinds of plants and flowers. It is not that I wanted to overcome this but whatever I did it just happened to overcome it. Was that a perspective you had to overcome? The reason why I have my base in Tokyo is because Tokyo has the best flower market in the world. One of the artworks that I liked most are your flower sculptures with the technical elements attached. Er ist ständig dabei, Grenzen zu setzen, um sie dann wieder zu verschieben. For more information about current exhibitions and projects please take a look at their website. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. But what first appears as a sterile studio slowly reveals itself as a place designed for requirements of his working material: lighting, humidity and temperature are optimized and there is music playing that is hardly noticeable to the human senses; composed for the wellbeing of the flowers. In the context of fine arts flower are often seen as something decorative, something traditional. We enjoyed listening to his latest travel adventures in the heart of the Amazonas while sipping tea in his little sanctuary, forgetting about the concrete jungle surrounding us for a moment. "Es ist wichtig, sich wohl zu fühlen. JARDINS des FLEURS is a laboratory filled with objects that you would expect to see next to an operating table rather than a flower bouquet. Makotos Werke haben ihren Ursprung in der „Ikebana“ – der traditionellen japanischen Kunst, Blumen zu arrangieren. Of course I need to know the brand image well. ", Ein weltweit einzigartiger Blumenkünstler. 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