Bestowing Wonder: The Remarkable Mind of Fuji Tate P
FUJI TATE P (pronounced Fuji-ta-te-pe) is an accessory designer with a stellar bead-based collection. Distinctively and elegantly geometric, with a subtle eastern feel, his designs seem to impart upon the wearer an uplifting sense of wonder, almost like something magical is about to happen. We approached FUJI TATE P to discover what it is that gives his designs such a unique and mesmerizing quality.
Tell us a little about your background, and what you’re doing right now?
In my early twenties, I worked at Japanese furniture brand IDEE. My boyfriend at the time, who was a fashion designer, asked me to manage an embroidery factory in Yunnan Province in China, where he had his products made. When I got there, I was fascinated by the world of embroidery, so I joined them in their embroidery work without saying anything to the head office in Japan. Eventually, they found out, and my boyfriend asked me “why don’t you make a career out of this?” I stayed there for only a few months more, just enough to learn the technique and to familiarize myself with the materials. Afterwards, I came back to Japan, and started working as a tailor in the atelier for the haute couture he dealt with.
I was there for a little less than three years. I felt like I was more in the mood for creating something a little more three-dimensional! I did not have any particular job prospects, so I decided to go independent. That was in 2010.
A year later in 2011, I designed a line of bead accessories with IDEE, which I launched as my own brand called “PENTA” in 2012. This brand is still in use. I also run the private brands “ERIKA” and “SMOCK”. On top of this, I have a lot of collaborative projects with various companies, the details of which I cannot disclose.
Why do you use beads as accessory material?
Since I was a young boy, I was good with my hands, and particularly enjoyed making plastic models and three-dimensional objects. So it was natural for me to move on from two-dimensional embroidery to three-dimensional designs. As for why I use beads, I think that the fact that I can do almost anything with them is one of the reasons why. In my favorite picture book for children, millions of small fish get together to form the shape of a huge fish to chase away their enemy. Just like that story, each bead is so tiny that I can gather them and shape them any way I like. Perhaps that is exactly why; since the beginning, I’ve loved to watch smaller things get together and form a group. For the same reason, I am a fan of music groups AKB48, EXILE, and Girls’ Generation, and I will never get tired of watching North Korea’s mass gymnastics. I had thought that my life so far has been all over the place. Looking back, though, everything I have been doing is, to my surprise, unexpectedly connected in some way, it seems.
You are involved in some volunteer activities as well.
Yes. I work as a designer for “CRAFT AID,” a fair-trade business sponsored by the Shanti Volunteer Association, and for the brand “FEEMUE” in Klong Toey slums, which are the biggest slums in Bangkok. In these activities, we go to Thailand and Laos to provide designs and lectures on how to make them We then make them together, and sell them.
That requires quite a lot of energy and time. What motivates you to do all this charity work?
Simply because it is fun, really. To start with, I am not very big on money. If you belong to a corporation, you can participate in “CSR” (Corporate Social Responsibility) activities, but since I am free, I sometimes feel like I am completely disconnected from society. I had the feeling that I was just making money, and I really hated it. I am a designer though, so what I can do is offer designs for free.
“I had the feeling that I was just making money, and I really hated it.”
What artists and works have influenced you so far?
If we;re talking about pieces I adore, the flower vase designed by Alvar Aalto. Even today, its form evokes a sense of wonder. The fact that such a modern thing was created over 80 years ago, and that it has always been a bestseller is awesome! If only I could make something close enough! That definitely is my favorite product.
What kind of things do you want to realize through your work?
These days, I am rather more interested in the sort of communication we create through making things, and how that can change the society. I always think that it would be nice if what I make can change something for somebody.
Once, a young guy who had bought a pendant I made came to an event to meet me. He told me he wore it at his office, and then a colleague he’d never talked to before approached him and said that the pendant looked really good. It served as an ice-breaker for them. “PENTA can be used as a great communication tool, you know,” he said. I realized at that time that they are not just for dressing up, they can become a medium that connects people together. What that young guy said moved me. In a sense, that was the moment the pendant became something complete.
Did that experience change the way you work?
Yes, most definitely. For instance, I have the intention now to make things that stand out more. However, to not to overdo it, and to stop at just the right point is tough. I think that is exactly what the Aalto flower vase is. It is not too showy, but nevertheless, people take notice and the memory remains with them for a long time. Every day, I bear that in mind to try to design something as close as possible to that.
For more info on FUJI TATE P – visit his website here
Photos by Yosuke Suzuki Erz
Original Text by Akihiro Tajima
