Kenzo Minami
What is your passion?
“Books, Coffees, and Making Things.”
Name: Kenzo Minami
Business: Graphic Design
Where are you from? Hyogo, Japan
When did you move to NY? Spring of 1993
When did you move to the LES? 2005
What is your first memory of the LES? The one of my first proper LES experiences I remember was when I was a sophomore at Parsons in 90s, I was hired by the (goth) filmmaker called Voltaire, and I designed and built the set for the stop-motion Sci-Fi Channel (now SYFY) ID spot. I was living in Chelsea at the time, and he lived across from Max Fish when it was still a fairly new bar on the block, and I had to come down to his place to pick up the check for my payment one late night. I remember looking down from the window of his all black painted apartment and seeing big glowing cigarette signage in front of the Fish. Lower East Side then was a bit different (and much wilder) place back then and I had never imagined that I was eventually going to call this place home years later.
What is your history with the LES? When I moved to LES back in 2005, I had never considered myself as an East Side person. I had lived in Chelsea for 8 years though 90s and early 00s, and had a studio in Meatpacking District (when Meatpacking District was still packing actual meat), so I basically always hang out in West Side, and I always loved it. And then moved to Nolita for a few years, and eventually I moved to the building (that I still live now) in LES because someone I knew was moving out, and I already had moved the studio with then business partners for our Film - TV - Motion Graphic Design Studio down here, so it made sense. It took me long time for me to start feeling like I am an East Side person, and eventually start loving it.
Outside of your business what is your favorite part of the LES? Living in LES is like constantly being in multiple different worlds simultaneously as well as shifting between them culturally. Also on geographical and practical level, I love the fact that we can easily walk over the bridge to Brooklyn, so I feel like we get to have access to the best of both worlds of Manhattan and Brooklyn.
What is your passion? Books, Coffees, and Making Things.
What is your motto? Don’t save your best for later. (This applies to every aspects of life, but if it’s, let’s say, professionally speaking,) Don’t save your best works for what you might consider better clients, better budgets, or better projects. Give the best you’ve got at any given moment. You can’t postpone your creativity.