UT magazine 2026 SPRING SUMMER Issue 13 published by the Japanese apparel brand UNIQLO features a two page talk between Kosuke Kawamura (河村康輔) and Katsuhiro Otomo. Kawamura started collaborating with Otomo in his GENGA exhibition back in 2012 and in other projects like INSIDE BABEL, he is now UT Creative Director.
The magazine was available for free in the stores and a digital version has also been released. The complete interview was later published in the Japanese sites of HYPEBEAST and UNIQLO.
JAPANESE EDITION: UT magazine 2026 SPRING SUMMER Issue 13
Publisher: UNIQLO
Release date: 2026-II-12
Language: Japanese
Number of pages: 60
Size: 21.3 x 27.4 cm
AVAILABILITY
Digital edition: PDF
ENGLISH EDITION: UT magazine 2026 SPRING SUMMER Issue 13
Publisher: UNIQLO
Release date: 2026-II-12
Language: English
Number of pages: 60
Size: 21.3 x 27.4 cm
AVAILABILITY
Digital edition: PDF
New things are never understood right away
The Roots of Katsuhiro Otomo’s Design
Language: English
Number of pages: 60
Size: 21.3 x 27.4 cm
AVAILABILITY
Digital edition: PDF
TALK
Kawamura: Ever since I worked on the key visual for the GENGA Exhibition, we’ve collaborated on many projects. Back then, I was still unknown and had never handled a major job. I made a collage in my own style, and you accepted it as it was. Honestly, I was worried—is this really okay? But what you said to me then really stuck. You told me, “You made something new, so of course people won’t understand it right away. Just wait about six months—it’ll spread all over the world.”
Otomo: Well, in the end, it turned out your work was the right choice.
Kawamura: INSIDE BABEL in 2017—shown at the Bruegel’s Tower of Babel exhibition—was probably the most challenging project I’ve ever done, but it was also a lot of fun. Otomosan calculated everything, from the internal structure of the tower to the angle of the spiral staircase and even the position of the entrance (laughs).
Otomo: That’s why we decided to cut open the center of the tower to reveal the interior. I took my sketches and photographs of Bruegel’s painting, chopped them up into tiny pieces, and had Kawamura paste everything together. So technically, it was a collage.
Kawamura: I cut everything down to 1-2 pixels, turning it into something like pixel art, and digitally recreated Bruegel’s brushstrokes. In the end, it was about 25,000 layers (laughs). It felt less like making a collage and more like painting for the first time. What amazed me was how, when I was shading it digitally, you specified even the gradient values in percentages. Even though you don’t usually draw digitally, when I followed your instructions, it was perfect. I kept thinking, what is going on inside your head? (laughs) And in the end, not a single one of Otomo-san’s original lines remained—we erased everything. That decisiveness was incredible too.
The Roots of Katsuhiro Otomo’s Design
Kawamura: Speaking of Otomo-san, the T-shirts you design yourself are always great. The MEMORIES T-shirts from a while back, or the ones given as bonuses to buyers of your complete works they’re all really strong. When we made the INSIDE BABEL T-shirts together, I felt this especially, but your sense of layout is outstanding. And you’re very particular about the body selection and sizing too. It feels like you’re carefully calculating the overall balance of the object itself. You’ve also done book design, and honestly, most designers couldn’t compete with you. I’ve always wanted to ask—do you use a different part of your brain when you’re drawing versus when you’re designing T-shirt?
Otomo: I think my approach to design is heavily influenced by old rock albums.
Kawamura: Ah, that makes total sense.
Otomo: Album covers were just so cool. I grew up constantly looking at rock records, buying them, living with them.
Kawamura: So the foundation of your T-shirts designs comes from the look and feel of rock Tee.
Otomo: That’s pretty much it. These days, music is mostly streamed, so people don’t get to physically hold an album and look at the jacket anymore. That’s a bit of a shame. The whole idea of “judging an album by its cover”—buying a record purely based on the artwork and then falling deep into the music—that kind of experience is disappearing. Young people have fewer chances to engage with design on their own terms. Of course, everyone still sees things made by others as they walk through the city—but that’s just passing by, looking and moving on. If you don’t consciously choose something, buy it yourself, touch it with your hands, and really look at it, design can’t evolve very far.
Editor: Takeshi Kikuchi (Hypebeast)
Photographer: Ryohei Obama
