Tuesday 23 February – Sunday 25 March 2025
Opening hours: 11:00-19:00 (last entry 18:45)
Closed: Mondays
＜Exhibition Outline＞
This is the first solo exhibition by Kei Endo, a designer who creates “measured sketches” by measuring various objects, not only buildings but also interior furniture, small objects such as vases and even food, as a way of exploring space. The sketches she has drawn and gathered up until now will be exhibited at the venue, CREATIVE HUB UENO “es”. We invite you to immerse yourself in Endo’s work, which details the elements that make up places and reinterprets space from an architectural point of view.
＜Artist Statement＞
Measured sketching has long been a tried and tested method for architects to experience architectural spaces and physically master their design. Using a tape measure to check every dimension was an effective way of understanding architecture and developing a sense of scale. Few people still do this today, but in an age where 3D scans and countless high-resolution photographs can be taken on smartphones in less than ten seconds, the experience of actually getting a sense of the space right then and there seems to have become rather rare because of its simplicity.
It is only when you try to draw that you realize you have not actually seen anything. It is difficult to even begin to draw a single line until you have decided on all the aspects – what to draw as the main subject, what composition to draw, what scale to draw. I believe that this difficulty of drawing is one of the few means I have left to carefully consider a space.
As designers we tend (and need) to think using separate drawings, separating layers such as architecture, interior, and furniture. However, the experience of a space is essentially a holistic one, felt right there in a place. Furthermore, the food eaten there and even the journey to the place determine how the space is felt. Through my sketches, I try to capture the quality of the space by recording all these elements in a cross-sectional way.
＜Artist＞
KEI ENDO
KEI ENDO graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts in 2017 with a degree in architecture. She is an architect and color designer. After working for the architectural design firm RFA, she joined the environmental color design firm CLIMAT. ENDO also serves as a part-time lecturer at Tokyo Metropolitan University. Her “measured sketches”, which she began as design research, have become very popular on social networking sites. She is the author of “TOKYO HOTEL SKETCH” (Gakugei Shuppansha). Sher writes the columns “Architectural Masterpieces from Measured Sketches” in Kodansha’s “with” magazine, and “Underpass Architectural Illustrations” in the online media BUNGA NET.
Photo by YUTA ITAGAKI KIENGI
＜Publication＞
“TOKYO HOTEL SKETCH” (Gakugei Shuppansha), Published in August 2023
A collection of watercolor sketches created by popular architect and color coordinator, KEI ENDO, who stayed in word-class hotels, where she measured and drew out their spaces. This is an illustrated book that records in detail the materials, colors, and measurements of items ranging from floor plans to interiors, amenities and food. This book dissects the charms of hotel spaces, from minimalist to luxury hotels in Tokyo, even its suburbs.
©Akira TAKUBO
“MEASURE KEI ENDO Post card book“, Scheduled for publication in March 2025
KEI ENDO has measured various things and drawn them in beautiful transparent watercolor sketches. The objects she has measured are diverse, ranging from cakes and parfaits to buildings and urban landscapes. The things we use in our daily lives and on our travels, and the things that have a different sense of scale, are equally expressed through the technique of measured sketches, which makes one realize a fresh way of seeing things. A collection of 24 specially selected works on postcards, including new sketches.
