It was standing room only at the Surface magazine Design Dialogue held at Hollywood & Highland where more than 100 designers, architects, artists, and other creatives came to hear Kenya Hara. The art director for Japanese designer Kenya Hara spoke about Japan House LA’s latest exhibition, the Takeo Paper Show: SUBTLE in this Design Dialogue. Kenya Hara is the art director of Muji and Chief Creative Director for Japan House globally.

The Surface magazine Design Dialogue held at Hollywood & Highland was attended by more than 100 designers, architects, artists, and other creatives. The conversation was led by Spencer Bailey, editor-in-chief of Surface, who skillfully queried Hara on his design philosophy and thoughts on SUBTLE, a contemporary take on fine papers.

“So, why paper?” asked Bailey. “[In Japan], while paper is used as a method of communication, it is constantly found in common spaces such as in Japanese architecture, [everyday] objects, and even clothing…So I wanted to capture that sense of culture in the exhibition itself,” Hara explained. He went on to add, “The whiteness, the tension, and the purity that paper holds is a very delicate thing, and it brings the delicate nature out of people.” The theme SUBTLE is about awakening one’s senses, he explained further. When we touch and feel paper, our senses become subtly and elaborately sharpened.

The show contains 28 exhibits of new and existing works designed and produced by 15 creators working in Japan. Among those is Hara himself who created “Chocolate’s Hats.” The use of “paper, design and technology” is the underlying theme of the Takeo Paper Show, held annually since 1965 by Takeo Co., Ltd.

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