John

AMAZING DAYS. I am trying to pretend that I have a green thumb, working my garden areas before I go into the office. So many requests to meet coming from very creative people. Of course, it is not about me but about my Global Creative Lab, its people and the work. I was taking video meetings out in the open air while walking back and forth under the huge sky, which is so symbolic to me as to where I am today as a creator. Just when you think you have seen it all, the universe just keeps expanding. Recently, in a presentation to academics from Kyoto, I spoke about humanity and consciousness. Little did I know that two of the men in their beautifully tailored suits were actually monks from the university that is 400 years old. Luckily, I survived that meeting. Then in London, I am in discussions with young developers working in quantum physics, all in a conversations exploring creativity. The world has never been more exciting for thinkers and makers who dare to dream beyond the day to day restrictions that our work will naturally create. However, it is our daily work that often opens the doors of imagination and unlimited opportunity. The lesson I learned long ago was that I simply needed to open the door and walk through it. So often, the door was already open. This is why the sky has become such a powerful metaphor for me as a creative. The universe is expanding and there are no doors or walls to hold us back. I am looking up to the sky at this very moment and I don’t even see time nor space. It’s just open. There has never been a richer time to be creative and to challenge our own fears. Look beyond those self- imposed walls, put in the work and create your own sky. -John C Jay

Sorry for typo. SUNG KANG

OMOTOSANDO HILLS 20th ANNIVERSARY. It was an amazing day in Tokyo, I rushed from a preview with Sung Kang of his new film, Drifters and an underground car show of Tokyo’s coolest cars to stand here with my longtime friend, Hiroshi Fujiwara at the opening of an extraordinary exhibition of Sex Pistols and their fashion. The show, Inception (1976) was produced and curated by Hiroshi and designed by Keita Morimoto. Hiroshi also produced a pop-up shop, Odoriba for the anniversary. It was a wonderful night of deja-vu since I originally introduced Hiroshi to Mark Parker, then CEO of Nike. Years later, for the opening of my new Wieden+Kennedy Tokyo office in Roppongi, Hiroshi designed Air Force 1 sneakers in now the iconic white pony skin for my entire staff. When Omotosando Hills was still being designed by architect, Tadao Ando, Minoru Mori, the legendary developer asked if I would join him in a brainstorming session with Tadao Ando on the programming for the new Omotosando Hills. I remember speaking about Hiroshi Fujiwara and his influence on the whole Harajuku scene . 20 years later, I stand in awe of what the Mori Building organization and Hiroshi has accomplished in this city of Tokyo. -John C Jay

GLOBAL CREATIVE LAB 2026. One of the most important programs that I brought to my office in New York is an ongoing series of inspiration events designed to lift the imagination and creative aspiration of my teams. It is vital that any creative organization find ways to connect to the most inspiring people and ideas in culture. Our world is in the midst of the most radical change in our history. To have a deeper appreciation for the context of the technological and social turmoil is critical. This week was the second of my Food for Thought luncheon series featuring movers and shakers of culture. Our guest speaker was poet and novelist, Ocean Vuong, author of the provocative new book, “The Emperor of Gladness”. It was a mesmerizing conversation with my staff. Perhaps the best ever, both intellectually and spiritually. The previous guest speaker over lunch was our talented designer Clare Waight Keller. We also have Inspiration Weeks, where I take my teams to artist studios such as Tom Sachs or private tours of the Judd Foundation or the Noguchi Foundation. Curators at top galleries and museums such as Jeffrey Deitch offer insights of new artists in a very dynamic world of art. The projects of my Global Creative Lab range from our work with great museums including Museum of Modern Art, Louvre, Tate Modern and the Boston MFA to all of our fashion collaborators from JW Anderson and Christophe LeMaire and Sarah-Lihn Tran and Clare Waight Keller. My previous careers gave me the training for this focus on culture. I organized salons for Wieden+Kennedy all over the world, my cultural trips with Nike CEO, Mark Parker, week of design inspiration for Target executives in Tokyo, all helped to nurture a network of creative influencers that I would use to build my future office cultures. My personal projects in London and Kyoto with technologists, artists and academia to protect the future of humanity will be infused into my office. My goal is to build the most dynamic creative office to embrace the future and build the foundation of critical thinking and creativity for the next generation. My future will be devoted to purpose and creating value for humanity.. -John C Jay

TERUO KUROSAKI: TOKYO’S GODFATHER OF DESIGN. Blueprint Magazine of London once bestowed this title to one of the world’s most important figures of creativity and design who quietly passed away on March 23, 2026. Visionary, eccentric and a giant talent with an even bigger heart, Kurosaki was champion to an extraordinary global family who benefitted from his creative genius and generosity. Countless young talented people owe their start to him and his public events inspired thousands of fans around the world. His lifestyle company, IDEE influenced furniture and interior design. This led to cafes and restaurants such as Rojak where I would spend nights in the basement dining room with his friends from international design, British pop groups and Japanese artists. I had the honor of being a regular lecturer at his Ikijiri Design Institute…where he transformed a former middle school into an amazing school of creativity, studios and workshops. He was the founder of the now iconic Farmers Market in front of the UN campus and home of his Freedom University. Tokyo Designers Block, his counter-programming to the more status-quo corporate Design Week was a legendary annual event that drew the most eclectic mix of people,Tokyo has ever seen. Kurosaki loved Portland Oregon and was city’s greatest champion. When I opened Wieden+Kennedy Tokyo, he co-produced our opening party in a planetarium high above Tokyo based on the influential 1970 Osaka Expo. While looking into the stars, Sony Aibo robot dogs danced to music of the city’s most talented DJ’s and party goers visited Mandarake’s 1970 Sex Museum. A self-described hippie, his highly popular lifestyle location off of Omotosando, Commune 246, inspired by Portland with local beers and food carts was the international meeting place for those with an independent spirit. Today, his Takigawa Farm in Komatsu, a creative retreat, known for its mix of young thinkers and maker from all over the world remains his ode to a life of freedom. Shown here, is a double page spread from Portland’s Joon Magazine featuring an article by my late beloved son, Matt Jay on the irrepressible Teruo Kurosaki. I loved them both dearly. -John C Jay

WALL OF UPS. On a Spring day in 1994, New Yorkers by the 42nd St. subway station watched a 6 story building wall mural being painted by men on scaffolds. The giant letters spelled YOKE on top of a partial subway map. It was an inside message of respect to one of the most influential sub-cultures of the city. There was no corporate logo or hint of purpose. The New York Times offered an explanation, complimenting the Manhattan Transit Authority on the outsized map to help its daily riders. YOKE, in street language referred to Yoke It or to Dunk It. Two weeks after its surprise appearance, I finally have a small Nike swoosh painted in the upper right corner in red. This was phase 2 of my Nike NYC or “City Attack” campaign. It was a sign of respect to the streets and culture of playground basketball. As each phase was unveiled, honoring the legends of the playgrounds and their local courts. We searched for insights into the game in this mecca of basketball. The campaign was not a celebration of the NBA or the stars of the college game, it was authentic to legendary players who displayed their skills with a creative flair that influenced the modern game. This campaign which offered innovative print, outdoor media and TV, only appeared in New York City as a sign of respect. This effort began as an answer to a call from Nike founder, Phil Knight who had a concern for Nike’s relevance on the streets of New York in the Fall of 1993, just as I as arrived at Wieden+ Kennedy in Portland. Image 1 : mural without swoosh logo. 2: NYT article. 3: the full graphic with logo. 4: poster showing Japanese 3 on 3 players walking under the mural. Today this City Attack methodology of connecting to the local culture first, to earn respect before marketing to the people, remains one of the foundations of Nike’s global strategy. One of my highlights from this multi-year campaign was when AdWeek Magazine critiqued it as lacking authenticity, inspiring my Nike client, Bob Wood to send a note, “Congratulations John …they didn’t get it.!” I am proud that 30 years later, this work has a cult following and passionate collectors. -John C Jay

THE ERA of ERAS The current fascination with the 90s has created unusual hype in media and the fashion industry. Gen Z has added fuel to the fire by obsessing over the style of the late John F. Kennedy Jr. and wife, Caroline Bessette as the decade’s American royalty. Marketers have jumped on the band wagon, often misunderstanding the era’s originality and true personal style. Bloomingdales celebrated the coming of the new decade with full page designer ads in the New York Times and a hand crafted booklet. I created the iconic 1990 series with the genius of photographer, Steven Meisel and the beauty of Linda Evangelista. Each day in the Times, a different ad featuring Linda transforming into a unique persona. For over a decade, my work with the most talented photographers and models took me all over the world in pursuit of new inspiration, using fashion as the store’s participation in culture. This 1990 campaign marked the beginning of an unprecedented shift in history, the rise of the internet, CDs and cell phones. Digitalization enabled globalization while analog storytelling gave birth to hip hop and grunge. Nowhere was this dramatic shift more evident than in my own creative life which began at Bloomingdales in the 80s with perhaps the greatest retail promotion in industry history, “China: Heralding the Dawn of a New Era”. In the following years, Andy Warhol gave me a quote for a double-page ad in the New York Times, “Bloomingdales is the Museum of the 80s”. I created multiple page fashion campaigns with virtually every photographer I dreamed of working with such as David Bailey and Horst. I travel the world shooting with the best in the world, collaborating with the provocative designers across categories such Ettore Sottsass of the Memphis design movement in Milan. My logo-less Bloomingdales art bags were included in museums around the world. I was caught in the eye of a cultural storm as the winds led me to Wieden+Kennedy in Portland. By November of 1993, I was working with Nike and answering a challenge by founder, Phil Knight with my cultural immersion, “City Attack: NYC”. Today, marks yet another era for me. A time for meaning. - John C Jay

IMAGINATION. There is often very little separation between my work and play. Both require immersion into subjects and cultures that I do not know well, yet fascinated by their complexity. Both require courage and a passion for learning. So much of this comes from the influence of artists and how they think. This is the great challenge of our times, not what to think but how to think. In the the past few months, my work and after-work has placed me in conversations about creativity and how to think. Last week in my studio in Portland, I hosted a team of academics from a university based in Kyoto. Nearing 400 years old and founded by Buddhist monks, whose spiritual influence remains very dynamic. Our conversations evolved into the challenges of AI and technology, my work with entrepreneurs in London and the future of humanity. The idea of consciousness was deeply discussed because we are living through a time of science where we are fighting for the control of our consciousness. It is our consciousness that enables our imagination to interpret and understand reality. This is the joy of creating and experiencing art. This week in Tokyo offered me conversations with others about the role of imagination and the importance of critical thinking. In London, I will explore new ways with teams outside of my busy schedule to use creativity in ways to probe not for better answers but for better questions. Art and science are not so dissimilar in our search for ways to protect our humanity. Our human creativity will be our salvation as we enter into our new world. Work on all fronts is so inspiring. -John C Jay

Wanna see rare footage of me at the Goat and the Rucker? I shared cultural insights to 1994 Nike Japan 3-on-3 champs on their first visit to NYC. I was honored to contribute as a consultant as well to this documentary titled “Hoop Hop Tour” by @john_c_jay for @wiedenkennedy which only aired in Nippon. Enjoy the excerpt! #bobbito #nike #basketball #japan

EMMA IN THE HOUSE. One of the great joys in my work is having the opportunity to work with the most extraordinary talents around the world. Here, Emma Raducanu, the wonderful tennis champion is visiting the John C Jay section of books in perhaps Tokyo’s best creative library. Located in Uniqlo City, the headquarters of the brand, it serves as a source of inspiration for alI. I created this double-level library as a mix of the best out of print books with the most important current publications on culture. Inside, I included a coffee cafe with a selection of curated vinyls played on a classic T-2000 turntable. We are so proud to have Emma join us as our newest Global Brand Ambassador and together we will work to help make all lives better. Emma is so curious about the world and on so many levels, she already demonstrates that she is multi-dimensional and so much more than a tennis champion. Her love of books and art will give us many topics to discuss as we work together in the future. It was a special honor to have both Emma and her mother from China sit and chat in my Tokyo office. I get to work with an amazing team in my New York, Global Creative Lab and I sincerely hope Emma will join us there for one of our Inspiration Days. There have been many influential people who visited my section of the library in the past. The last was none other than the GOAT, Roger Federer. This is why I love working so hard, to have the opportunity to stand next to greatness such as Emma and Roger along with Cate Blanchett and all of our other ambassadors. Then, when I add our fashion designers as collaborators, I find myself humbled to be in the presence of such talent. There’s nothing more inspiring than to be in a room with people smarter and more talented than yourself. I love this moment. Human creativity has never been more important. -John C Jay

FOR ARTS SAKE. In this very moment of chaos and disruption, our humanity is under threat. We live in a time when technology can be our worst enemy or a tool for enlightenment and vision. It is becoming clear that art serves as one of our most invaluable creations for survival as a species, enabling our capacity to imagine beyond our actual knowledge and experience. Art, in all of its forms and sensory abilities to move us, makes human creativity beyond the mathematics of algorithms. The unexpected is both a tool of intelligence and emotion. Art gives us life. I am surrounded by art and artists by choice. My work with young emerging artists will grow through my projects with my Art J Foundation, where I am today. The honor of working with leading art institutions in the world is one of the most rewarding responsibilities in my day job. To have collaborations with MoMA, Tate Modern, the Louvre and Boston MFA only means that my interest in how art can benefit a new generation will only grow. I have visited so many museums and galleries as a part of my work but it is the independent spirit of a city such as Portland which gives me so much more added fuel for my creative ambitions. It is a pleasure and very rewarding not to play in the mainstream of culture. My life has been in part, a search for an alternative to the status-quo. If you play outside of the rules then they can’t judge you. Even if I work at major global corporations, that environment only encourages me more to avoid complacency and repeating last season’s success stories. All of these factors ignite a passion to push forward harder and faster. The concept of STEM, eliminated the A for art and in many ways we are paying the price for that strategy. Welcome back to a new age. -John C Jay