SMILE NEON
Hidenobu Takahashi of Smile Neon is one of Japan’s last remaining traditional neon benders, his medium a high-voltage blend of glass, fire, volatile gases and of course, beer.
This series explores a collaboration to bring Brooklyn and Tokyo together, reinventing Brooklyn Brewery’s iconic logo with a blend of Japanese old-school Katakana script and Kanji, ultimately reading “Brooklyn Brewery Tokyo.”
True collaboration yields more than just the tangible piece – it’s a connection, life experienced in sync, creating wavelengths of inspiration for others that roll forward in time. We hung proper with Hide – popping hydraulics in his custom lowrider through the Yokohama streets, sharing beers (40z’s of Malt Liquor – he has a thing for it, and so do I) over throwback jams from Naughty by Nature and Wu-Tang, spending hours observing the craft in his ivy-covered brick workshop over an open butane torch, laughing over burgers in Yokohama’s vintage 50’s-style American diners.
We’ll never be the same, and neither will the walls of the Brooklyn Brewery bar in Tokyo. We’re alive. Thank You Hide – you are family for life!