The Art of Fusion

At the launch of his latest collaboration with Hublot, artist Takashi Murakami shares the contradictions that make him one of the most successful artists in the world.

- LYNETTE KOH

If you are the head of a luxury brand and have a burning desire to work with Japanese contemporary artist Takashi Murakami, consider taking him to your factory. At a press conference held at Raffles Hotel — organised in conjunction with the launch of the Hublot MB-15 Takashi Murakami Tourbillon Sapphire — the 61-year-old responded with a smile when asked what it was that convinced him to work with Hublot.

“Miwa-san approached me again, again, and again,” says Murakami, referring to Miwa Sakai, the president of Hublot Asia-Pacific. He had initially turned down her offer: Apparently, having previously worked closely with respected independent watchmaker Hajime Asaoka on a tourbillon timepiece in 2013, he feared that this new collaboration might not go beyond slapping his signature smiling flowers on an Hublot dial.

However, he gradually warmed up to the idea of a partnership after Sakai’s reassurances that he would be able to create truly original timepieces with the brand. What really sealed the deal, however, was visiting the brand’s factory in Nyon, Switzerland, in 2020.

There, he was taken by the brand’s cutting-edge manufacturing capabilities, such as its ability to mill and sculpt sapphire crystal, which is otherwise mostly used as watch glass in fine watchmaking. He recalls, “It was impressive, and I could see the quality and the potential (of what we could do together). And that’s when I told Ricardo (Guadalupe, CEO of Hublot) and Miwa-san, ‘Let’s collaborate’.”

CREATIVE, COMPLEX AND CUTE