souffle – Tokujin Yoshioka

[Title] souffle
[Artist] Tokujin Yoshioka
[Date] November 19, 2009 – January 19, 2010

Embellishing the final window of 2009, a year defined by the theme of “The Beautiful Escape,” is a creation christened Souffle by designer Tokujin Yoshioka. Invigorated by human breath, and swaying ever so gently in midair, are scarves – the timeless symbol of Hermès.

Expressed here is the ultimate in simplicity, appointed to skillfully showcase the exquisite patterns, rich colors, silky texture and other distinguishing characteristics of Hermès scarves in all their glory. Simultaneously, the light dancing motion of the scarves, brought to life by imagined gusts of human breath, musters a buoyant dose of dreamlike beauty meant to spirit us away to a faraway world.

Another luminary in these windows is the actress Tae Kimura. Her “breath,” brimming with a lucid tenderness, conjures up illusions suggesting a separate dimension of time flowing through that sphere alone. The exhalation of breath here emerges as one element of the lovely world depicted by the scarves. The smooth integration of these components, bordering on the immaculate in accord, is delicately tinged with its own sublime sanctity.

These scarves, trembling poignantly on gently exhaled air, beckon those passing through the streets of the Ginza away from the hustle and bustle, and off to “The Beautiful Escape.” This wistful world, expanding before eyes riveted to the penetrating window space, may very well herald new beginnings. The sensation, for instance, of a balmy spring breeze kicking up in the midst of the biting winter chill.

Tokujin Yoshioka
Born in Saga Prefecture in 1967. Opened the Tokujin Yoshioka Design in 2000, and truly captured the world’s attention with his “Honey-pop” chair of paper unveiled the following year. Yoshioka’s creativity spans a broad range of endeavors from products, stores, spatial designs, installations and other fields. A number of his works have been included in permanent collections at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and other renowned global art museums. Tokujin Yoshioka’s exploits clearly reach beyond the domain of design, and continue to earn stellar evaluations from around the world as highly accomplished artistic statements.

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