Wonderwall is the interior design firm created by Masamichi Katayama– they’re responsible for all kinds of incredible spaces around the world (but especially in Japan). Ever been inside a BAPE store and wondered who was behind the genius interior design and architecture? Some other highlights include Dean & Deluca in Roppongi, APC in Aoyama, Collete in Paris, the UNIQLO store in NYC (with the moving mannequins) and more. Look into more of their amazing work here.

Two of my favorite shops, now as one. Rad.

UNIQLO x colette Shop-In-Shop
213 Rue Saint-Honoré
75001 Paris, France

UNIQLO has never been afraid to inovate the shopping experience (think: UT Loop, grid playground and the concept t-shirt store) but this time they are adding a robot to their stores. Yep, you read right a robot named Wakamaru. Designed by Toshiyuki Kita and engineered by Mitsubishi, the robot can make eye contact with you, have simple conversations and help you shop for some Japanese animation t-shirts. But there is a catch, the robot is being described as neither human nor machine. The only thing we can think of that fits that catagory is robocop, which could end up to be a huge PR problem for UNIQLO if anyone saw Robocop 3. Look for Wakamaru to make his/her first appearnce at the Soho store in NYC sometime in the second week of September.

From the looks of things, Chris Rubino knows how to mix work and play. The NYC based designer, a 2006 ADC Young Gun and possessor of a shining list of lustworthy clients, hasn't abandoned his personal pursuits in order to achieve success. In between putting in hours for the big boys (Banana Republic, The NY Public Theater, and Uniqlo to name a few), Chris spends his time making museum quality posters for his favorite bands and jetsetting across oceans to display his artwork at solo shows.

Read on as we chat with this young whippersnapper about art, design, and all the stages in between.

Joshspear.com: Tell us about your personal history in design.

Chris Rubino: When I moved to New York right after graduating my portfolio was full of paintings and clips of bad abstract animation. I was lucky enough to find a job in which I was told “we can teach you how to design but not how to draw.” I made a bunch of bad record covers, a good friend and discovered typography. Over the next few years I was given great opportunities with a couple higher-end design firms until I felt very ready to be on my own. Seven years later I am still sitting here, hopefully moving forward.

READ MORE…

Our DJ skills are far from scratchtastic, but that doesn’t really matter to UNIQLO. In an inspired marketing move, they’ve created the UT Loop, a site where you can create your own dub loop by manipulating some models / actors / concert promoters wearing UNIQLO gear and making random noises. After you lay down your perfect, Timbaland-approved track, you can get other site visitors to judge your sample. Don’t be surprised if this ends up on a Jamster commercial.

Since launching their flagship store here in NYC — their only US outlet, according to their site — Uniqlo has taken the US market by storm. Their simple clothes and funky Japanese design sensibilities have completely ingrained themselves in our psyche. Take a peek at their website and see for yourself if you need further convincing on the Uniqlo experience.

Case in point is their new grid playground. It allows users from around the world to interact on the same grid of Uniqlo logos, creating a mosaic similar to those used on store shopping bags and in the original brand campaign the predated the store launch. Every time someone around the world move a piece on the grid, the change is accompanied by a sound effect. The cacophony of sounds makes you realize just how many people are playing on the grid at once; go have fun and see for yourself.

If Steve Nishimoto — Nish, to the design community — is as driven by change and culture as he claims, then today's inspiration must be in no meager supply. The designer just returned from his first trip abroad, where a last minute tag-along to the Tokyo premiere of Mash landed the seasoned artist in the same country from which his relatives emigrated four generations ago.

Not to say that that inspiration has ever been elusive to this sponge of a visionary — a long list of clients, including Burton, Uniqlo, MTV, and Beautiful Decay seems to prove the opposite — but if the 4,000 pictures Nish took during his travels serve their purpose, then we will surely see trails of his trip across the ocean in his work to come.

We caught up with the freshly de-planed New Yorker to chat about the past, present and future, and were left with three things: an itch to doodle, an itch to travel, and a new sense of what it truly means to marry art with life.

Joshspear.com: Tell us about your background…

Nish: I’m 100% American Japanese (fourth generation), born and raised in Chicago. I've been living in New York for the past six or seven years, and was bi-coastal with San Francisco for one or two of those. I've been a skateboarder for as long I can remember, I enjoy riding a fixed gear around the city, and I have been full time freelance for the past 3 or 4 years. I survive on coffee with milk (soy if possible), no sugar, please. READ MORE…

On April 28th, Uniqlo’s new and highly anticipated Concept T-Shirt Store in Harajuku will finally open its doors. From what I can tell so far, the shopping experience at Uniqlo, where 5000 square feet (and four stories) of shelves hold shirts packaged in little see-though canisters, seems a little unreal, as does the vending-machine style method of distribution, and I’m desperate to get the full run-down of what it’s like to actually be in this place. A Terry Richardson photography exhibit and plenty of limited edition, all-star designer designed tees will headline the Concept Store’s first days, then artists and designers from all walks of life will continue to keep it stocked with hundreds of individualized shirts. If any of you happen to make it over there for the opening or otherwise, pleeease let us know all about it– pictures would be awesome, too!