Shinsuke Takizawa + Paul Mittleman + Fraser Cooke Background Jörg: Please describe your work-profile and what it looks like in 'real life'.. Takizawa: Basically, I am the chief designer of Neighborhood and I operate the company and the shops. In a real life, together with my staff, we are always busy running the collection for twice a year. Paul: I work most of the time, not always at work, but I do not really ever leave it behind. My work and life are very interconnected. My job is not really "real life" I am not sure what real life work is? What I do is not 9-5 or paid by the hour. It's an ongoing investigation and process. Fraser: My job is a real mix of things. It's on one side working as a kind of internal Nike consultant on what we should best do in communicating/marketing/generally creating compelling connection points spreading messages... as it relates to any given project or concept we may be working on at a given time, or often numerous projects. I hasten to add that this is done via a lot of exchanging of ideas between myself and a very talented group that I work with at Nike who are located in the various major cities of the world as well as agencies and other knowledgeable external contacts, too. Basically we have a team who, in many cases, like myself, came from a background in being "on the scene" and can relate directly to the experience of those whom we communicate ideas with. I also work as a part of a small team on very focused product specific projects such as the one we are discussing here, Boneyards with Stüssy and Neighborhood and I act as a bridge between Nike and our creative partners. Again there are numerous either collaborative or internally generated projects going on at any single time and they can be pretty diverse in scope. I guess due to my past, I have had the good fortune to experience being on both sides and working with Nike both prior to being an employee and as a store that was supplied and partnered in the past. The Hideout and Foot Patrol of course. It helps to have an understanding of the challenges on both sides. I am based in Tokyo but travel a lot, as my work is global in nature and keeping in touch with what's happening requires actually getting out there and seeing for yourself. Jörg: How did you get to where you are today? Takizawa: I never thought being successful to this day. I am just living my life day by day. I neither had an excellent education nor did I have a rich and strong family background. It would be nice to have any spectacular talent, though one thing I keep telling myself is that, never to be conceited and to be steady in your work and life. I am always grateful for the environment I grew up in, the time I was born in, friends and people I met, because these are what shaped who I am today. Paul: Some luck, hard work, making the right choices. As well as some bad ones. Keeping open to new things, while not loosing who I am and what I like. Being inspired has gotten me pretty far.