BE ORIGINAL – Interview with JINPO
“Nothing new under the sun, but it’s up to you to elevate it to Another Level.” — JINPO
✦ On BE ORIGINAL: The Streets Don’t Believe in Just Copying
“BE ORIGINAL” On the surface, the phrase sounds pretty ordinary. You might look at it and think: Isn’t it just about ‘being yourself’? But to me, this concept has a much deeper root in street culture.
If you’ve ever been a B-Boy, you probably know that back in the 90s Hip-Hop scene, there was a classic hand sign called “Bite”.
What does it mean? It means that if you blindly replicate someone else’s move without thinking or truly digesting it, you are “biting”—you’re straight-up copying. On the streets, if that hand sign is thrown at you, you are going to be deeply disrespected.
“Nothing new under the sun.” Let’s be honest, living in this fast-paced modern era where AI can do almost anything for you, there really isn’t much out there that is 100% pure and original anymore. Even I can’t do it. Given that, why do we still chase originality?
To me, the true value of originality doesn’t lie in whether you can build a skyscraper entirely from scratch. It’s about whether you are willing to be a “Fusionist.” You absorb a little bit from here, dig a little bit from there, and then use your raw intuition and soul to fuse them together, breaking the mold of who you were yesterday. When you personally elevate it to Another Level—that grit, that hustle, is what makes it your Original.
✦ When the “Traditional Paper Lantern” Meets “That Pixar Lamp”
The Chōchin Lanton collection I created for Stickart is the living realization of this original spirit.
The material itself has a fascinating trait: it stays completely low-key in the dark, but the moment it catches a glimpse of light, it reflects intensely and demands to be seen. It instantly reminded me of watching the opening of Pixar movies as a kid—that little lamp hopping around in the dark, bursting with life.
I thought to myself: What kind of sparks would fly if I took this concept of “bouncing light and shadow” and crashed it straight into the “Lantern Monster” of traditional Japanese folklore?
Traditional lanterns were made of paper, a “relic of the past” meant to illuminate the dark. But now, I’ve given it hands and feet, transforming it into a rebellious character that floats and can even pick up its own handle. When it hits the modern streets—stuck onto a rider’s motorcycle, a skateboard, or a laptop—all it takes is a passing headlight for that “Monster Lantern” to instantly awaken from the shadows. That is the beautiful chemical reaction between material and artistic character.
✦ For the Riders: An Alternative to the “Cookie-Cutter” Standard
The way I balance tradition and modernity is always deeply tied to the reality of the streets.
Reflective stickers are most commonly slapped onto vehicles because riders and car owners naturally crave to be seen and noticed. But out on the road, what we see most often is that green-and-yellow, painfully rigid “Koshinsha” (beginner driver sign) sticker. It’s pretty boring, isn’t it?
So, I did a bold piece of re-creation: I fused the traditional Lantern Monster with the “Beginner Sign” of modern car culture. I wanted to give street riders an alternative to just blending in as another generic face on the road. I want them to know that even if you have to display a beginner sign, you can still flash your own BE ORIGINAL attitude while doing it.
✦ The Process of Creation: Leave the Wild Imaginations to Your Body
A lot of people ask me: now that AI is so convenient and can generate an image in a split second, do we still need to draw things by hand?
To me, AI is like a phone call. You can dial in at any moment and someone will get the job done for you—it’s convenient, sure. But the things you create with your own hands are the only things that keep you honest with yourself. The Process of artistic creation can never be replaced.
It’s just like how in the morning, my mind can wildly imagine a highly complex breakdance move. In my head, I’m pulling off a flawless flip, spinning, and sweeping my legs perfectly. But when night falls and I’m alone in the studio putting it into practice, my body will inevitably snap me back to reality: there’s a gap. You can almost never 100% replicate the perfect image you had in the morning.
But so what? That exact journey—from the “wild imagination of the morning” to the “physical reality of the night”—is the most thrilling, authentic, and fulfilling part of creating. This wide-eyed Chōchin Lanton carries that exact meaning: “In a dark, fast-food era, it’s here to help you see through the noise and illuminate the irreplaceable details of being original.”