AD CORE DEVISE DESIGNER COLUMN Vol.177
At the West Coast Architecture Seminar held in the New Year of 2026, we toured five buildings used in our catalog photography. Many customers expressed interest in purchasing the images used in the seminar, so we reviewed the images for other photos to retouch them. Each home was a sight to behold. We were reminded of the meticulous care of not only the interiors but also the gardens, and the interior accessories, all of which reflect the owner's taste and intellect. In particular, we were able to see the artwork by a famous artist, which we hadn't noticed when creating the slides, and the books and accessories casually placed in the interior, which spoke to the owner's taste. In the West, interior design is said to be an expression of intellect, and the furniture, accessories, and art placed in the interior are often placed to convey the owner's knowledge. This is true not only in Western architecture, but also in Japanese architecture, where the intellect of the resident is expressed through the hanging scrolls, fresh flowers, and flower vases in the alcove. Western interior design is said to be about addition, while Japanese interior design is about subtraction. Perhaps art in Japan is what remains after subtraction.
The owner of the Beverly Hills home used for filming in 2008 was a Hollywood star's agent. Each room was decorated with paintings and sculptures by famous artists, and the minimalist interior décor evoked a sense of depth and richness, a Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi. While the home's size was anything but modest, it evoked a Japanese aesthetic, rather than the ornate, décor found in Beverly Hills mansions. Most of the floors were finished in the same type of terrazzo artificial marble, and the wall storage and furniture were made of simple teak planks, creating a California-style building with roots in Japanese architecture. The entrance hallway featured large paintings, including Takashi Murakami's "Superflat Monogram" and Richard Prince's "UNTITLED" series. The formal living room featured Yoshitomo Nara's "Morioka-nko" sculpture and a large oil painting by Nigel Cook on the wall. The home felt like an art gallery, with Jeff Koons' "Puppy Vase" used as a flower vase in the kitchen space of the family room.
As I reviewed the images of the home, I couldn't help but wonder how much the total would be. The five pieces of art mentioned above alone would likely have a reference price of over $200 million (3 million yen) at Sotheby's. In the United States, like real estate, art and vintage cars are not collected for collector's purposes; they are popular speculations that promise a steady profit from price appreciation, attracting many wealthy individuals worldwide. Contemporary art, in particular, is traded as a reliable speculative commodity. Apparently, many Japanese buyers lock their art in safes after purchase. However, the owner of this Beverly Hills home uses it as part of the interior, alongside the furniture, adding a touch of elegance to the space. In the homes I've visited on the American West Coast, many have casually used expensive art that would be unthinkable in Japan, and I've used it in many of my catalog shoots. When you visit the American West Coast, you'll see that contemporary art is a part of everyday life.
In America, people tend to own real estate, including buildings, as a form of savings, then move up the ladder to eventually purchase a smaller final home, where they can live out the rest of their lives with any money left over. To achieve this, the interior and garden are crucial, and they are furnished with furniture and decorated with accessories and art to enhance their appearance. Kitchens are also important, and even if they aren't often used, they seem to have a fine kitchen appropriate to the size of the home. They are also used well to sell at a higher price. While furniture is often included in the home, art is not, but it is displayed to increase the home's value. Every home I've seen on the American West Coast has been carefully designed and made to increase its value and spur the next step. It's the decorator's job to do this, and I realized that it's the owner's intelligence and sense that enhance the value of the completed interior.
In Japan, there are people who buy new cars like Ferraris for speculative purposes and keep them without ever driving them, but with the recent drop in used car prices, the profit-making purpose of this approach is also disappearing. Rather than tucking them away in a room like an antique, I think it would be better to use them as part of the interior, expressing intellect, like contemporary art. Our company also displays contemporary art and furniture that we inherited from Yasuko, who returned to Japan from Los Angeles. Please be sure to take a look when you visit our showroom. Also, as customers who were unable to attend the New Year's West Coast Architecture Seminar have expressed their desire for a webinar, we plan to reselect images that were not shown in the live seminar, albeit in a shortened version, so please look forward to it! (Creative Director Seto Noboru)
