“How was our work, Aki?”

When I was a child, I loved line drawings with the texture of pencil. Perhaps because of that, I was naturally drawn to Aki’s illustrations and his thoughtful use of color.

When I created a poster with Terroir Milano, I wanted to include something that represented not only the place itself, but also the emotions I experienced there. The feelings that came to mind were “warmest love” and “comfort.”

At the same time, I remembered Aki playing with the Terroir Milano stamp. That small but memorable moment captured the warmth and personality of the space, and I wanted to preserve that feeling in the poster.

Aki generously opened his archive of original drawings and allowed us to choose the pieces that would become part of our poster.

“How was our work, Aki?”

We asked Aki how he felt seeing his illustrations transformed into a new piece of work.

His answer was simple and heartfelt:

“I was really happy because the work was so kawaii (= cute in Japanese).”

Interview support by Ayumi Kanemaru