World-traveling mural artists "Cami & Fran" x Social Apartment

Social apartments are rental apartments that include a lounge and other "common spaces" in addition to conventional rental housing. It is a new style of living that "expands your world" and allows you to enjoy community with other residents while ensuring your privacy.

The rich common space not only provides access to luxurious facilities, but also serves as a place where people can naturally connect with each other.

We have launched an artist collaboration project to update these common areas into a more vibrant and inspiring space.

The first artist collaboration project is by two world travelers, "Cami&Fran". In this article, we will introduce their art style, their thoughts on their artwork, and their completed works.

Check out a video of the work in progress here!

The first collaboration is "Cami&Fran," a world traveler

The two members of "Cami&Fran". Camila is on the left and Francisco is on the right.

The idea was to evolve the common areas of social apartments into more vivid and inspiring spaces. This is the reason why we started a new initiative, the Artist Collaboration Project.

Artists actually stay at the Social Apartment and express their inspirations, which they have gained from the space and interaction with the residents, as art in some of the common areas. Our goal is to create art that is not mere decoration, but rather stimulates the sensibilities of those who live there and those who visit, and to provide an opportunity for new forms of communication.

The first installment of this project was created by "Cami & Fran," a unit of artists who travel the world. Camila and Francisco, who hail from Argentina, have been creating mural art in various locations, inspired by the landscapes and people they have encountered in their travels.

For this project, they stayed at a social apartment for several days to meet and greet the residents and get a feel for the atmosphere of the space before creating their work.

Neighbors Musashi Nakahara, a "small town" of 144 households

Neighbors Musashi Nakahara, located next to Musashi Kosugi Station, is a social apartment complex based on the concept of a small "town" where 144 households gather. Facilities like those found in a city are concentrated in a single building.

There is a lounge with a sense of openness where you can enjoy cooking with a large cooking table and the latest cooking appliances, a full-fledged theater room with a super high-definition projector and a 150-inch screen, a studio space with mirrors suitable for dancing and yoga, a working lounge where you can concentrate on your work, a bar lounge where you can play darts or billiards with a drink in your hand, and a lounge where you can enjoy a drink in the evening. and billiards with a drink in hand, and a music room where you can immerse yourself in musical performances.

Among the luxurious common areas, the music room is the most artistically decorated.

Whether you want to practice guitar alone or have a singing session with two other people, this is a soundproof room for a small group where you can immerse yourself in music in the comfort of your own home. It is a space where it is possible to play a single piece of music with other music lovers who have met in the same social apartment.
In fact, there are opportunities for people who enjoy playing musical instruments to hold sessions together or form a band to participate in events.

[Reference article]
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A Cultural Fair event where residents share their "likes and strengths
A casual remark led to the formation of a band. Report on the Music Festival

Interview with Cami & Fran

Welcome to Japan! How is your first time in Japan?
Camilla: Thank you very much! I am happy because I wanted to visit Japan once.

Francisco: I had never painted before I met her. I met her on a trip and entered the world of art.

How did you get started in art?
Camilla: My father was also an artist who painted, so I grew up with art as something close to my heart from an early age. My earliest memory of drawing is probably when I was 4 years old. I remember drawing lines and circles on paper using various colors of paint. I also studied art in college.

Francisco: I had never painted before I met her. I met her on a trip and entered the world of art.

When did you start living while traveling and painting art?
Camila: I started in Peru in 2018. When I came into contact with the nature and people of the places I visited, I found surprises and discoveries I had never imagined, and I found myself continuing this way of life.

Francisco: I met her in 2018 and was so inspired by her art and way of life that we started traveling together as partners.

Francisco: What is the role of the two of you in creating the artwork?
Francisco: She is the artist who comes up with the designs and colors, and I am the support. She draws the general framework of the design, and I add colors and lines to it.

Camilla: He is a very reliable partner who embodies the world view I want to portray, including the way I apply colors. Originally, I was the sole creator of my art, but now I can't imagine completing a piece without him.

What do you enjoy most about the lifestyle of traveling and creating art?
Camilla: Being able to leave something behind in the places I visit.
By expressing the atmosphere of the place and the warmth of the people through art, it becomes a record of our time there, and the art also expresses my gratitude to the people I met there. We were delighted by the many people in every country we visited, and we found ourselves visiting as many as 20 countries.

Francisco: Meeting the people of the place is one of the best parts of this way of living. When I am creating art, people who pass by or live nearby are interested in talking to me. Even if I don't see them often, I meet people who I can stay friends with forever, and there are many wonderful people I have met because of this way of living.
Sometimes I go back to those countries to meet those people.

What is the thought that went into this work?
Camilla: I wanted to create a work that would bring to life the music that is being played in this place right now. Through our travels and art, we have met many places and people, all of which we will never forget. When we actually stepped into the Social Apartment, we felt that surely wonderful things are created in this place as well through encounters between people. Even though the space is large, we felt that the people who communicate with each other add warmth to this place, and we incorporated this into the design and color scheme.

Right: Music Room Before / Left: After

Do you plan to continue traveling and creating art in the future?
Camilla: Of course I will continue! I will continue to draw art and I would like to visit countries I have never been to. However, the constant traveling style requires a lot of energy and sometimes wears you down. But we still love this style of travel.

Francisco: This lifestyle is very exciting, but it also requires a lot of energy because we are always on the move. I sometimes feel like going back to my hometown in Argentina, so I would like to continue traveling while having a stable base!

Editor's Postscript.
The first thing I felt when I saw the completed work was that it was a painting in which I could almost hear the sound of music being played at any moment. A man playing a trumpet, a man playing a cello, and a woman playing a saxophone. Each of the three characters is concentrating on his or her own sound, immersed in the "present moment.

In our daily lives, we are constantly bombarded with information on our smartphones and social networking services, making it difficult to focus on what is in front of us. That is why I was so impressed by the sense of "time to be here and now" that this art brings to us.

I believe that Cami & Fran were able to create this art because they have traveled and experienced the scenery that unfolds before their eyes and the unique encounters they have had in each place they visit. We hope that the newly renovated music room will continue to serve as an inspiration for sessions and creations among the residents.

What kind of space and what kind of art will be created next? We are looking forward to the second installment.

[Cami & Fran]
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(Text and interviews by Hayashi / Photography by Shoji and Uchida)