It probably isn’t the first word you’d associate Tokujin Yoshioka with, but “emotion” is the very thing that drives his art. The Japanese artist believes that despite their stark and austere fronts, all his medium-hopping works are products of human senses.

Falling somewhere in the blurry divide between art and design, Tokujin’s oeuvre has taken him across architecture, products and art installations. Even designing for luxury brands Hermès and BMW, the 43-year old is a study in versatility.

Tokujin started out designing shop fronts and installations for Issey Miyake before establishing his own studio, Tokujin Yoshioka Design, in 2000.

And it’s been all uphill since then. He now has pieces displayed as part of the permanent collections in renowned museums like the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

Among his many awards and accolades, Tokujin recently scored the Fast Company ‘100 Most Creative People’ nod for his genre-defying projects.

TAXI chats with Tokujin on his creative inspirations, current work, and the inherent beauty of chairs.

TAXI Hi Tokujin, thanks for coming onboard with TAXI. You design products, spaces, buildings, and art installations as well. What did you start out with, and how did you branch out to working with all these different mediums?

Tokujin Yoshioka I am not much aware of the genre when creating something. I just try to realize images that come across my mind which I have not ever experienced before. The genre or medium of the work are always decided by the viewers after I complete the work.

TAXI Do you have a personal favorite medium to work with?

Tokujin Yoshioka Not exactly. I simply would like to realize what I dream about.

However, when challenging the history of design, I look for a new structure or approach to create a chair that has never existed before. For any creator, I think a chair is what expresses their philosophy. A lot of great designers and even architects have designed iconic chairs in the history of chairs.

What I need is not a superficial design but something that is really new. For me, it is a new structure or a new way to approach the basic form of the chair.

TAXI When you hit a creative block, what do you usually do to get out of it?

Tokujin Yoshioka Normally when I work on a project, I think of all the possibilities that might happen, and try not to face a creative block. However, I think the most important thing is having passion for design. I believe it makes us get out of the block.

TAXI Sometimes your work comes across as more art than design. These days, do you think the line between art and design is getting more blurred?

Tokujin Yoshioka Yes. Nowadays, I feel the global diffusion of the internet and find lots of websites that introduce design and art works altogether.

The viewers decide whether it is art or design, and at the same time, I think the line between the two is getting blurred.

TAXI Working with big brands like Hermès and BMW, are there times when you feel your creativity is limited?

Tokujin Yoshioka There is a slight difference between the project conducted by myself and the project created from a collaboration.

When I work with companies, I try to see their most appealing feature objectively, and try to express the charm in the most effective single phrase.

My task is to find and convey the soul of the client in design. There are, of course, some restrictions when working with companies, but I do not feel my creativity is limited because of it. I ponder how I can work on the project with the restrictions.

TAXI ‘Emotion’ is a big part of your design work; you have mentioned in other interviews that designers need to convey emotions. Why is this so important to you?

Tokujin Yoshioka Human beings are emotional creatures. I am always willing to create an aura of mystery, which could somehow change the entire air around us.

Our lives are imbued with things like moving music, evocative cinema, uncontrollable feelings of love. Through design, I would like to create an exciting and wonderful feeling, one that transcends the unconscious.

TAXI Do you consider your designs very ‘Japanese’, if there is such a thing?

Tokujin Yoshioka I do not realize my design is Japanese, although I am often told so. However, Japanese culture might be integrated in my design as I was grown up in the culture.

TAXI If you weren’t a designer, what would you be?

Tokujin Yoshioka Someone who creates such as a chef and musician.

TAXI Congratulations on being named in Fast Company’s ‘100 Most Creative People’ list. What’s next in the pipelines for Tokujin Yoshioka?

Tokujin Yoshioka Thank you. At the moment, I am working on the huge installation that will be presented at the Mori Art Museum. I will be participating an exhibition ‘Sensing Nature’ and will present a snow installation, which is completed by reconstructing the work previously designed in 1997. The work will be 15 meters in width.

TAXI What is the word you think will reside in and reverberate through the creative industries over the next 10 years?

Tokujin Yoshioka Sense.

Objects disappear and only the sense remain. I think such a time will come in the near future.