Brutus Casa

This is kind of a part II about the package I recently got from my friend Fumio. Here's the first thing I saw when I opened it: an issue of Brutus Magazine.


I first heard about Brutus when they profiled Naked a little while ago. This issue seems to be a special one, centering around interior design. Maybe it's the Hiragana, but Japanese magazines seem to be laid out so much nicer than ours. This is one of my favorite pages:


Don't you just want to live there? I think it's a bakery. It reminds me of the bookstore in... I think it's Norwegian Wood... that the girl inherits from her family. The one where she cooks a big feast for the main character in the kitchen upstairs, and there is a fire somewhere in the distance. This page made me daydream for several minutes.

Speaking of Murakami (but a different one), here is the most endearing picture of Takashi Murakami I've ever seen, wearing a big ball of his own work, and a flower crown hat:


(are you in a good mood yet?)

This is the best part. The cover of this magazine was very big. It wasn't a page at all, actually: it was a page-sized, flat box attached to the front and serving as the cover. There was a little window cut out of the inside, revealing...



Sometimes the most delightful things come out of putting two completely different ideas together. In this case, a plate and a magazine. Would you ever have dreamed of opening a strangely-big magazine cover and having a little dish slide out?

Give me some Japanese phones, please.

Let me tell you about one of my favorite people. His name is Fumio, he lives in Kyoto, and he found me on Flickr at around the time I was starting to learn Japanese. Over time we became friends, communicating only through Flickr comments. It was a pretty cool dynamic, because our conversations were always sparked by something visual.

Anyway. You probably pretty much know that I am into Japan. Or if you are new to this blog, guess what: I am into Japan. Now, here is a wonderful thing. If it is:

a) Japanese
b) cute
c) flat

Fumio will send it. Case in point: a couple of weeks ago, an exciting package came in the mail.


That is a preview; I will write about the issue of Brutus in a couple of days. When I wrote this post, I saw two pretty different thoughts happening, so I split them. Stay tuned.

The rest of the package made me a combination of wistful (I miss working on Nokia); jealous (of living in a place with mobile infrastructure about 5 years behind Japan and parts of Europe); and delighted (with everything). Behold a pretty comprehensive collection of carrier catalogues:


Here is a section that struck out at me from the iida one:


There were a couple of pages with phones in this red /white /dots theme, and that woman was in them also. Fumio let me know that it was Yayoi Kusama. I must a complete twit, because Wikipedia informed me that something of hers recently went for over $5 million at Christie's.

Anyway, the spread displays a line of Yayoi Kusama-designed phones, brought to you by iida. This a really good idea – are you listening, U.S. carriers? Commission a big artist to design a line of phones with a handset manufacturer, and make them only available through you. Do you know how collect-y art fans are? If KAWS were to design a line of handsets, do.you.have.any.idea how many kids would sleep outside of your store in the pouring rain, attracting camera crews, to buy every single one in the collection? Do you know how much eBay would blow up? Please stop releasing skinny phones that play 20 MP3s and do something that people can't get somewhere else.

Back to phones, and back to my jealousy. This design (hardware) and presentation makes me feel like I slept in on a Saturday,


While this one makes me feel like I'm in an MRI (which Noah described once as feeling like you're in a German techno club):


This blurb (?) makes me want to play with Tinker Toys,


And this one:


makes me want to... I don't know, go to a big box retailer or something.

I don't really have a point here, other than to share the delight with you and wish for a bigger culture of cute here. We wouldn't lose our credibility, guys, promise. We don't need Times New Roman on a navy background for credibility. And we certainly don't need stock photography for it, either :B

Brutus, in English!

As promised, the guys at Naked Tokyo have been so kind as to translate the Brutus Magazine article on Naked NY. Thanks, guys!

WORLD HIP OFFICES
"The ideas that lead the advertising
industry are born in such a greenhouse" *

NAKED COMMUNICATIONS
NY/USA

Naked Communications is based in the residential loft building in the middle of SoHo. Reflecting its characteristic as the advertising consulting company who is known for progressive marketing strategies, the office is unique and different based on the “house” concept, having two floors. On the lower floor, several people are having brainstorming, and others are meditating, in the ‘greenhouse’ within the building. In the next ‘living room’, other staffs are enjoying video gaming on a couch. On the upper floor where actual work is done, appr 40 people are focusing on working, sitting side by side in front of the long, aligned desks. Because of the philosophy that imagination would be stuck when staff get used to routine, the management shuffles seating at random, which helps free flow of communications amongst staffs. The office environment is considered to prioritise ‘Flexible mindset and unique idea construction’, and it represents peculiar business model of this unique company. Whilst belonging to the advertising industry, Naked neither produces advertising nor functions as a traditional agency, but just generate ideas for clients. If you look at the huge chalkboard in the meeting room, you see their corporate philosophy, ‘Naked Truth 6 clauses’, such as “everything communicates”, “the world of communications is bigger than the world of advertising”, etc.

You will never know what this company is doing by just looking at the office, however, it is certain that such cool working environment helps establish Naked as ‘the agency to watch’ just within three years since the launch of the NY office. By the way, they are looking for new office, as the number of the staff is being increased too quickly.

1. ‘Greenhouse’ is the place to think, isolated from noisy working areas.
2. Many signs of generated ideas on the chalkboard in the meeting room.
3. ‘Living Room’ for the people who want to relax and refresh.
4. Bunch of tennis balls used for the event, and polaroid of people.
5. Quite congested working floor due to the increase of staffs.

Profile
Naked Communications was born in London in 2000, and launched NY office in 2005. Partner Paul Woolmington and Neal Davis are enjoying foosball. They sell media strategy and branding strategy. Recently opened the office in Tokyo. http://www.nakedcomms.com

DATA
• Lease
• Location - SoHo
• 2F/3F of five-storied residential building
• Scale – 464 sqm
• Facilities – greenhouses, meeting rooms, etc.
• Built in 1879
• Loft type, renaissance revival design
• With boutique on the ground floor and artists’ SoHo in other floors.

* I can see other agencies that dislike us really hating this headline!