Mykonos, 1984

We love the art of Hiroshi Nagai, who pioneered a distinctive style of art that came to be associated with the 1980s and the ‘city pop’ genre of Japanese music. When viewing his work, it’s easy to picture yourself in Miami Beach or Beverly Hills circa 1984. 

We applied his style to the island of Mykonos and imagined the atmosphere on such an iconic party island during such an indulgent decade. Greece is a special country to both of us and we wanted to pay homage to their rich culture and wonderful people. As we worked on this design, we uncovered several fascinating connections between Japan and Greece; for instance, some scholars believe the architecture of the famous Hōryū-j Temple has clear Classical Greek features, traveling there via the Silk Road.

Paralía or παραλία means ‘beach’ in Greek and any Nagai interpretation worth its salt had to have a beach, a pool, and an airplane crossing the sky. Also, this word is especially meaningful to the Greek people as, by law, all beaches in the country are public.