DAZED Digital, an online version of Dazed & Confused got to speak with Jun Takahashi (Undercover) and Nigo (A Bathing Ape/BAPE) about their joint retail venture NOWHERE and it's pop-up shop at London's infamous Dover Street Market.
Dazed Digital: It’s been almost 15 years since you set up NOWHERE in Tokyo’s Harajuku area. What was the initial idea behind it?
Jun Takahashi: The idea was that by separating the small space of the store into two with wire netting, we wanted to express two totally different worlds of interests and of the way of thinking.
Nigo: I don’t think there was an idea. We were just doing what we felt like doing. I don’t think we needed to think about it that much.
DD: How do you think the success of the store has affected your positions as designers for A Bathing Ape and Undercover?
Jun Takahashi: I could be confident and positive about the idea of being independent.
Nigo: The store was commercially successful, so I suppose that encouraged me to carry on and do more. As far as A Bathing Ape was concerned there was no particular critical reaction that I noted at the time, so I don’t think that I was affected in that way.
DD: How did the Dover Street collaboration come about?
Nigo: It was good timing. It takes place in the 15th anniversary year of opening and we needed to do something in London because our store was closing. I think it was more interesting to do it because it is London. London is a place that has special significance for me and A Bathing Ape… I think it is somewhere that has special meaning to Jonio as well. If we had done this in Tokyo there would have been more people who would know what this meant without us having to explain, but it would have been a less interesting idea to me.
Full interview available at DAZED | LINK
