Rei Kawakubo was awarded the 2024 London Design Festival Lifetime Achievement Medal. Rei asked Amanda to accept the award on her behalf.
Words by Amanda at the awards ceremony
I am honoured that Rei has asked me to accept this medal on her behalf. She wants me to read this:
“Comme des Garcons’s creation is based on the never ending search for something new and the result of the mere accumulation of hard work, every day, point by point, in all matters of design.”
This is a characteristically minimal and very modest statement from Rei. I would like to add some personal reflections.
Rei first came to our Future Systems office in the early 90’s. It was just me and Jan Kaplicky at the time – we had been introduced by a mutual friend Ronnie Newhouse. Rei exuded a quiet and steely confidence.
She told us that she was moving her hugely successful New York store from the West Village to Chelsea. She wanted to be somewhere that only the aficionados would seek out. Chelsea was certainly that, there were no shops or galleries at the time. But where Rei goes others follow.
She had taken a 19C building that was previously a car body workshop. She asked us to clad the building to announce the arrival of her store. We suggested something different – this is a rare piece of New York’s industrial past – let’s leave all the old brickwork, signage, fire escapes and graffiti and just focus on a dramatic entrance behind the brick façade.
With characteristic resolve and without hesitation, Rei agreed.
The next store we did for her was in Tokyo where we actually reduced the square footage of the store to create a new way in. Who else would dare go against the preconceived wisdom that the more space you have the more you sell?
For me Rei Kawakubo embodies what we all really value in design. She is a trail blazer, she is fearless. She is a conceptual thinker. She is a brilliant designer not just of fashion but of alternative environments in which to engage with her public and sell her clothes.
Not only has she built an empire, but she is hugely generous to the younger generation of designers, supporting and promoting emerging talent in her stores across the world.
Rei, we salute you.
Rei Kawakubo photo by Eiichiro Sakata
