DIY Osaka part 3: interview with Kazuma Sasajima, Nice Shop Su

Introduction

In the final interview for this series of posts about the DIY scene in Osaka, Japan, I spoke to Kazuma Sasajima who runs an “independent culture shop” called Nice Shop Su from his tiny apartment in the attic of an old residential building not far from Umeda (one of the major commercial districts of Osaka). Nice Shop Su was established by Kazuma and his partner Kaori Nakao in 2013, and sells many different types of artist-produced bits and bobs. One thing that interested me about Nice Shop Su was that Kazuma deliberately chose to locate it in an area without a strong art community. This approach provides a contrast with the development of the community of artists in Baika, which was discussed in the first two interviews in this series (with Go Tsushima and Kaori Yoshikawa). For this interview Kazuma and I were joined by Kazuma’s friend, the graphic designer Daisuke Minami, and the artist Makiko Yamamoto, who acted as guide and translator for my visit and to whom I am hugely grateful.

Previous interviews in this series:

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ArtSlant: Nooks and Crannies

Review of The Pavilion opening

Vitamin Creative Space, 2503-B- Building 2, Northern District, Pingod Community, No.32 Baiziwan Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100022, China

November 20, 2010 — ongoing

The end of November marked the inception of Vitamin Creative Space’s “The Pavilion” – their third space in China, and second in Beijing – and allowed for a revisiting of their presentation methods in their various spaces. So, what is this “Pavilion” and what purpose does it serve? And how does it relate to their previous space, “the shop”? Coming to grips with Vitamin’s selection of spaces reveals a taste for poetic license in their consistently ambiguous commercial spaces.

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quick! get that brand an art-historian!

Quoted by Beijing fashion blog STYLITES:

“According to Lacoste, the above green polo and several other items in the collection take ‘inspiration from optical art, recalling the work of Victor Vaserely or Daniel Buren with the coriander green ultra slim-fit polo with white striped concentric boxes radiating out around the crocodile logo or the navy blue crew-neck sweater with zig-zag white stripes. It’s New Wave, mathematical and very optical.'”

Daniel Buren as “optical art”? Genius. And they misspelt Vasarely.

Camila Sposati’s booklet

I received this rather nice little booklet the other day from my friend, the Brazilian artist Camila Sposati. The publication follows her residency at Loughborough University in England in 2009, where she worked with their Chemistry department on developing her work with crystal growth processes and entropy. I’m looking for opportunities to bring her to China, so if anyone knows people in university science departments please contact me!

Camila Sposati booklet

Cover

Camila Sposati booklet

Inside pages

Camila Sposati booklet

Insert

Camila Sposati’s website