Public eye #25

Aduki Kon, Artist

Do you often come to Nakano?
AK: I live close by, in Nishi-Ogikubo, and hang out at Nakano Broadway, so I occasionally come here to work – making knit items in a cafés, for example.

What kind of things do you make?
AK: I make a lot of products for apparel companies. However, I make a range of other things as well – from one-off samples for the Tokyo Collection to items with large-volume production runs. I also work in the labs at my old uni, Musashino Art University.

Producing your own goods and having to work at the same time must be pretty tough right?
AK: Even when I make a profit, I end up investing the money in the next product… plus, some products require me to invest as much as ¥100,000 per item – it’s like I’m continually having to invest more than all my savings. In August I'll be exhibiting at TWS-Emerging 141/142/143, and doesn't cost anything so that's a big help. I hardly have enough time to sleep. Perhaps it's time I found something more relaxing to do instead. [Laughs]

So why continue?
AK: Simply because I keep making things.

Is there anything you’d like to do after you finish your latest work?
AK: Relax and read a magazine, and…what else… take some times to have a think about redecorating my room. I’d also like to try doing something else for a living – something that would allow me to work not so much ‘productively’ as ‘efficiently’. [Laughs]

What do you do when need a change of pace?
AK: I like going for walks. I spent a long time working in Shibuya and like to walk around the area, or around Aoyama. Just the other day, I walked from Roppongi to Shinjuku. I was with a friend at the time and we decided we’d head towards Aoyama, from there we continued on to Aoyama Cemetery. After hanging around there for a while we carried on to Sendagaya. After coming that far, we figured we’d carry on to Shinjuku – via Yoyogi.

What time did you set out?
AK: Hmm, we left Aoyama at about 8pm and arrived at Shinjuku at about the time when the trains stop running; we spent quite a while just leisurely walking around – visiting different places.

Is there anywhere, or any particular route, that you’d recommend?
AK: I’ve spent quite a while exploring Shibuya and think it's a really interesting place to walk around – especially the area behind Dogenzaka.

More from Aduki:

‘I like thinking up places for my friends to go on dates. I take things like how long they’ve been dating and what they want from the date into account before suggesting an appropriate plan.’

‘My goal is to “live”. Since I’m alive I want to live as long as I can. I think that in order to live as long as possible you have to think as if you’ll live forever.’

‘I’m basically self-employed at the moment, so I usually only get to meet certain types of people. After I’ve finished exhibiting, I’d like to get out more.’