Czerny’s Symposium #001: Kodoku
Pursuing our creative endeavors often reveals unique aspects of who we are. While the final work can be beautiful, the creative process itself can be isolating.
Czerny’s Symposium aims to give voice to that inner solitude, exploring the emotional landscape artists navigate while creating. Through a range of formats—dialogues, personal narratives, and academic writing, and even illustrations—this book offers honest reflections on the challenges of failure, self-doubt, and the feeling of not being understood. It also serves as a source of encouragement, sharing the stories of how creatives across disciplines have learned to move through these moments.
Contributors include designers, professors, creative directors, models, and artists—each offering a glimpse into their internal world with a level of intimacy and insight that reminds us we’re not alone in our struggle.
In a world obsessed with polished outcomes, Czerny’s Symposium turns its attention inward, toward the messy, generative space where feelings take shape and the real work begins.
The publication features interviews with Lola Dement Myers (creative director of Lucky Jewel) and Nayawashi (Seoul-based model and artist); illustrations by Daylen Seu (whose work has been featured by songwriters CFCF and Silica Gel); essays by Wei Hong (professor at the University of Washington, Seattle); a photography series by Ethan Ming (LA-based photographer with work for Reese Cooper and Mad Happy); and writings by Dakota Butler (creative director and featured model for Ann Demeulemeester). Models include Eri Nguyen, Ashley Wang, and Nancy Liang Han, who have appeared in fashion campaigns for Peter Do and Yohji Yamamoto.
Czerny’s Symposium is a publication started by Junpei Hata, a writer based in Los Angeles. Working within LA’s fashion scene, Junpei has spent years in conversation with artists, designers, and other creatives—sometimes over coffee, sometimes by accident. What began as a personal impulse to document these exchanges slowly evolved into a living archive: not interviews, not essays, but something in between. Czerny’s Symposium exists to hold space for these moments— unpolished, and honest.
Pages: 208
Dimensions: 140 × 200 mm
Format: Softcover, Poster, Postcard
Language: English
Year: 2025
Publisher: Czerny’s Symposium
