81 | SEASONS PHILOSOPHY

81 Tokyo | Tokyo, Japan | Site-specific installation | 2025

I was invited by the 81 crew to create 3 artworks for permanent exhibition in their brand new resturant in Shirokane, Tokyo. The series was shaped through a deep dialogue with the 81 crew — a shared vision where abundance comes from respecting each ingredient, and every gesture carries the weight of time.

• 𝘖𝘩!𝘉𝘢𝘯𝘻𝘢𝘪!
  The signature piece. A meeting point between Italian and Japanese sensibilities, marked by traces of fishing and hunting — two of the primal forces behind 81’s cuisine.
  The title plays with the Kyoto-style obanzai philosophy and the spontaneous Italian exclamation: a cross-cultural cheer for life, food, and collectivity.

• 𝘜𝘯𝘢 𝘕𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘯𝘢 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘢
  We drew from the figure of the Italian mondina — the women who quietly rebuilt Italy after the war, working in the rice fields — as a symbol of 81’s vision: not a single superstar at the center, but a constellation of fundamental figures — the farmers, the fishers, the hunters, the foragers — each bringing their own excellence to the table. Many “Mrs. Nobody,” whose collective strength sustains everything.

• 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘚𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘙𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨
  The mondine return as embodiments of the four seasons, the core of 81’s culinary identity.
  Strawberry, cogomi, rice, mushroom — four symbols of simplicity and temporality. Each holds its own place; together they complete the cycle.

The same four symbols appear on the entrance door — not as a logo, but as a statement of intent.