At mitosaya, we work with one artist each year to design labels and packaging.
Following previous collaborations with Kusanagi Shinpei in 2019 , Nigel Peake in 2020 , Nishimoto Ryota in 2021 , Jason Logan in 2022 , and Sam Gendel in 2023, the next collaborator in 2024 will be architect Aureliusz Kowalczyk .
Aurelius Kowalczyk is a Tokyo-based architect whose insights into everyday life are depicted through a framework of straight lines and rules that only he knows.
The strong brush strokes and speedy-looking drawings are in fact the result of careful consideration and meticulous planning, down to the last detail. They are the result of a long period of thought given to how to express ordinary objects.
When he can't travel, he spends his time walking around his favorite places in Tokyo and discovering new things. Finding new things he's never noticed before is a source of inspiration for him. 
He actually visited mitosaya and experienced the environment and the process, and we had many conversations. And, as a Polish man, he likes high-alcohol distilled spirits, so we drank a lot of alcohol.
Stay tuned for his drawings for mitosaya in 2024, along with new printing and design ideas that he will explore with TAKAIYAMA .
Each year, mitosaya works with one artist to design the label and packaging.
Following Shinpei Kusanagi in 2019, Nigel Peake in 2020, Ryota Nishimoto in 2021, Jason Logan in 2022, and Sam Gendel in 2023, we will be collaborating with architect Aureliusz Kowalczyk in 2024.
Aureliusz Kowalczyk is an architect based in Tokyo.
His reflections on everyday life are usually framed by straight lines and rules of engagement known only to him, through the format of drawing.
Despite bold brush–strokes and impressions of spontaneity, each composition is carefully studied and thought through. The lines are deliberate, and arrangements intentional—although sometimes they may otherwise appear at the first glance. Condensed, note–like drawings are in fact quite often the result of long deliberations on how to capture the common and the ordinary. Through his eyes “as found” observations are transformed into something new.
He believes that life is a journey and it is necessary to keep exploring the world. When not traveling he spends a lot of time walking around his favorite neighborhoods in Tokyo, re–discovering the everyday, finding the “unseen before” his never ending source of inspiration.
We had a lot of conversations as he visited the mitosaya and experienced the environment and the process. We had a lot of conversations and drank a lot of alcohol with him, who, as a Polish person, likes high-alcohol spirits.
We look forward to seeing his drawings for mitosaya in 2024, and the new printing and design ideas he and TAKAIYAMA will consider as a result.
