Citykingz

Limited print by Kenzo Minami "Calling" edition of 25 70_50 cm

“It makes sense that I studied both philosophy and industrial design,” says Kenzo Minami. “One is ergonomics, the functioning of humans in a physical environment, and the other is the functioning of humans in the social and metaphysical environment. As much as they seem to be polar opposites, there is a place they can coexist and cooperate.”

Metaphysically speaking, the 32-year-old super-creative lives on the spot where those two things intersect. Geographically speaking, he lives in Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

Minami credits the backdrop of his childhood home, a small factory town near Kobe, Japan, as one of the reasons for his creativity. “With nothing to play with, I had to make my own toys,” he explains. “Pencils, paper, and [abundantly free] metal scraps became my tools of choice.”

After studying Western philosophy at Kwansei Gakuin University in Japan, Minami studied industrial design at the Parsons School of Design in New York, drawn to the field for a particular element of absolutism. “Industrial design is the only field with a clear way of judging what’s good and bad, right and wrong in the context of ergonomics; it’s more than a matter of personal tastes and beliefs,” he explains.