Interview w. Everyday Sake Illustrator Anders Arhoj

When Yoko and I started working on Everyday Sake, we pondered all different sorts of scenarios. Would there be photographs? Is it a coffee table book? Should we get a ghost writer? The book went through many iterations (three vastly different book proposals, in fact) but we always knew we wanted Anders Arhoj to be involved. He said no several times (he's super busy running an empire in Copenhagen!), but finally, Yoko flew all the way to Denmark to convince him that he is the only person who could take on this arduous task of illustrating a sake book with us. He could not reject Yoko in person!

We often get the question, "how do you know Anders Arhoj?" Our friendship with Anders goes way back. Yoko met Anders in Tokyo as cubicle buddies for an art gallery in Tokyo when they were in their twenties, how cool are they?!? 

In 2007, Yoko enlisted Anders, now living back in Copenhagen, to contribute to our food + drink blog, umamimart at blogspot dot com. He signed on with a weekly column Skankynavia, guiding us through Denmark with his wacky yet artful gaze. When we decided to open Umami Mart as a brick and mortar in Oakland, we called on him to help us design our store!  
Anders' preliminary sketch of Umami Mart HQ interiors in 2012

Anders flew out to help with our buildout

Shenanigans

Over the years we have collaborated in countless ways from our prints to Gallery Wall, to our bar. He is a dear friend and integral part of Umami Mart, so it makes perfect sense that our book is a signature work of Anders Arhoj as well. 

We didn't have a ton of time between handing in the final draft of the manuscript and the deadline for the artwork. Early on, we had decided that there would be no photographs in the book– only illustrations. So Anders had a massive undertaking on his hands, despite the fact that he runs the wildly successful brand Studio Arhoj. He generously took off a complete month to work on our book, and decided to hide out in Kanazawa to get it done. About a week into his trip, we spontaneously decided to meet him there – the sporadic zoom meetings with the massive time zone difference were wildly inefficient (usually my daughter just hogging the screen, wanting to talk to Uncle Andy). Plus, Anders was working at warp speed and so we really needed to be in the same room to get our heads together in real time. 

So off we went to Kanazawa for a whirlwind five days. By the time we got there, Anders had nearly completed the first draft of the illustrations, and we just needed to put in the final touches. Which meant there was some time to play too! It was our first time in Kanazawa, for all of us, so there was a lot to explore.

First day together working in the lobby

Taking a walk along the Asano River

Daytrip to Shirakawa-go

One of those souvenir polaroid photos we should have purchased.

Taking a tour inside Fukumitsuya Sake Brewery

Being tourists

Tasting at the Noguchi Sake Brewery counter

All our time together really paid off – the book is spectacular, if I may say so myself!

The cover was one of many that Anders came up with that was unanimously agreed upon as the most spectacular between us, our editor, and publishing designer.The opening spread is already super design-forward and is unlike any sake book published before.

Making a sake and meal plan for every day of the week was Yoko's clever idea.  I was in charge of the regions maps, which was exceptionally tricky but turned out real nice!

This is my favorite spread. It's pretty campy and fun!

We asked Anders some questions about his design process for the book:

What was your inspiration for the book's illustrations? 

Well, we went through several styles and looks, didn't we? I started out presenting to you a dusty, pale coloured collage illustration look based on an old sake town map we saw in a village outside Kyoto. A look that was then scrapped for being... too dusty and cliché Japanese. We finally landed on a very boldly coloured and hand drawn vector technique, a mix of strokes and fills and doodles. It was also important to me that it spoke to an international audience and didn't land in the tropes of how people think a book about Japanese sake culture should look. We all share a love, or even genes, with Japan but also have our American and Danish cultural heritage to blend into the mix. Most important is appeal, fun and no highbrow attitudes.

What is your favorite illustration from the book?

The Yoko Kayoko Ying Yang circle. So simple, so silly, so fun. I had a little happy dance in my hotel room in Kanazawa when I came up with it. A sign of business and friendship, two strong personalities joined in the love for anything edible. My old friends. 

Each chapter in the book has its colors. How did you choose the colors for the book and why did you designate specific colors as the chapters change?

It's a functional book that must be easy to navigate in, so it was important the chapters differed not just in theme but also across all illustrations. I always have much fun coming up with odd colour pairings and wanted it to be a little out of the normal zone of how to illustrate food. It was sometimes a struggle to make a banana look like a banana if you only have red and blue. So a few times I've had to cheat and use the real colours of fruits so it's not coming off as nasty or unappetizing. 

How did your time in Kanazawa for one month inspire your process?

Together with Anders, we've created a limited run of merch to go along with the release of the book, check it all out here. We hope you enjoy the book and it inspires you all to go on your own sake journeys! Kanpai!