Architecture You Can Wear and Display. The Jewelry Brand an Architect Chose to Devote His Life To.

Please introduce yourself.

I’m Aldi, I’m from Indonesia and I moved to Tokyo over 10 years ago. I come from a family of non-designers, and somehow based on the process of elimination of what I didn't like in High School, I ended up choosing to study Architecture for my Bachelor’s degree. Japan only has a Japanese course for BA of architecture, so I enrolled in a Japanese School and then ended up finishing Architecture school in 6 years. Fortunately, those free periods of my life became the foundation for everything I've built since. I had the chance to explore architecture from every angle, not just design but also the business side of it. Looking back, I think that's what gave me the horizontal skill set I rely on today.

The next chapter of my career was when I dove vertically, working alongside the talented architects at Kengo Kuma & Associates. It was my first architecture firm, and it played a huge role in shaping both my design sensibilities and my character. Kuma gave me the opportunity to work on an incredible range of architectural and non architectural projects. I also spent a great deal of time with the firm's highly skilled model-making team, learning from their craftsmanship.

Then, in 2024, from a random task to 3D print a physical model, I started to understand the technologies and its possibilities. Initial abstract ideas start to emerge. It reminded me of Dispel Dice, a Kickstarter project known for its sharp-edged resin dice, and suddenly I began seeing connections with the art world as well. Just a few months prior , I met a retired art collector by chance during a holiday at Lake Toba, and our conversations opened my eyes to how the art industry works. Around the same time, my girlfriend introduced me to an incredible collection of silver rings also. None of those experiences seemed connected on their own, but together they formed something bigger. Looking back, they were like puzzle pieces falling into place, and in my ADHD mind it was put together into a hybrid of ideas. I was still not completely sure at that moment, so I kept these ideas for weeks, to polish them and look at them from different angles.

Please tell us about your company and what makes it unique.

Carpediem Sculpture is, in many ways, a productisation of me. It brings together everything I've learned and every part of my creative identity. As Rick Rubin says, "Unlike commerce, artistic value remains constant regardless of public reception." That idea really resonates with me. The work isn't about what other people love, it's about simply reflecting what I loved and believed in at that particular moment in my life. That's where its value comes from. As an architect, I see each piece as a wearable sculpture. Like the rings of a tree recording its growth over time, each piece captures a chapter of my own journey. In that sense, it's a museum of me.

Please tell us the story of your company.

Looking back, I think there were three key people who helped shape the way I think and create. The first was Bjarke Ingels, whom I discovered through the Netflix series Abstract. I must have watched his 43-minute episode seven times. Whenever I started feeling boxed in by the conventional career path, I'd watch it again. Every time, it reminded me the importance of the business aspect in architecture and that there are so many more possibilities than we tend to not see.

A few years later, the second season of Abstract introduced me to Virgil Abloh. What struck me most was his way of working. He didn't even have a traditional office desk, he was creating with little more than his iPhone and a pair of wired earphones. I thought that was incredibly cool.

Could you tell us a bit more about what specifically stood out to you in the Bjarke Ingels episode?

He has brought so many exciting comic-like ideas that are well received by the public. It's not that he's the original creator, many great artists sample/mix existing ideas too, he is just really good at communicating the product to the audience. He is one of those architects who has great business skills.

One of Bjarke Ingels' ideas that has always stayed with me is "Utopian Pragmatism." It's about bringing together ideas that seem contradictory. Different career paths, building typologies, or functions and finding value in the space where they overlap. That way of thinking has always fascinated me because it leads to the most interesting projects. Art is especially exciting in that sense. It's subjective, so you have the freedom to break rules that other disciplines can't.

Several years later, Jorge and I were in a ride-share in Lisbon on our way to the bus station. We ended up chatting with the driver, and I asked him what was probably an annoying question: how much does it cost to rent one of those beautiful apartments? His answer stuck with me because for sure my job now won't provide me that lifestyle to disappear from the world for a month in Lisbon. It might be a ridiculous question that's often people will just pat you on the back and say, “that's how it is, we should just accept it,” but during the entire bus ride from Lisbon to Coimbra, I chose to ignore that belief system, I was lost in thought. All of those ideas I'd been collecting over the years started connecting. Like maybe from 50 silly ideas, 2 stood out. With those puzzle pieces, and a mental model from Naval Ravikant, they finally came together. That 2 hours bus ride was the moment that all aspects of the Carpediem Sculpture foundation felt right.

When the foundation of Carpediem Sculpture came to you on the bus, what was going through your mind at that moment?

To be honest, the salary as an architect in Japan is something I've always struggled with, although that's true of many industries. For years, I've been trying to figure out a different approach. In typical architecture practice, the input-output is always linear, and there's a relatively low ceiling cap. Other ways to scale are to productize your work, which often moves you away from creating great architecture, or to build a large practice by highly leveraging other people's labour. That never appealed to me because it creates the kind of ultra hierarchical system I never wanted to be part of. Another way of looking at it is that architecture simply isn't a path to building wealth. It's an artistic-engineering pursuit that deserves time to be enjoyed, and one day I'd love to return to it. For now, though, I decided to rewrite the rules of my own version of "architecture" and change my wealth vehicle.

I've always enjoyed thinking through ideas and numbers in my head, so I tend to have a good sense of what might work and what probably won't. My approach isn't especially complicated, I simply study people who've already walked the path I'm considering and observe the lives they've built. You can often catch a glimpse of where a path leads without having to spend your entire life doing it.

During that bus ride, after discarding countless ideas, Carpediem finally felt like the one worth dedicating myself to. It aligned with the lifestyle I wanted, the investment could grow in installments at my own pace, the competitive advantage made sense, the margins were healthy, it's a lean business with low capex, it's a lifestyle business and the overall risk felt manageable. Everything started to click.

Naval Ravikant has many mental models that influenced my thinking, but one quote from someone else captures a similar idea: "Nunca ninguém ficou rico com salário. -js" ("No one ever became rich from a salary.")

What is the story behind your company name?

I'd say I'm quite a sentimental person. I've always liked taking photos of moments that mean something to me. You know how hearing a certain song can instantly take you back to a specific moment in your life? My taste in music changes all the time, I'm constantly discovering something new, so I often end up associating different periods of my life with different songs. They're all little ways of trying to capture a moment.

Carpediem comes from the Latin phrase meaning "seize the day." For me, it also means capturing a moment in time. That's what I'm trying to do through my work. Instead of preserving an experience with a photograph, I capture the feeling of experiencing a particular space or piece of architecture through wearable sculptures.

Looking back from the founding of the company to where it is today, what would you consider the major turning points?

There are a lot of reasons. I've always been fascinated by business and the idea of leverage, and I've been drawn to creating a lifestyle closer to what Tim Ferriss describes in “The 4-Hour Workweek”, or Daniel Priestly popularized as the “Lifestyle Business.” I also don't enjoy competition because it is always a zero-sum game, “in order for me to get this project, my friend has to lose it”. So instead I'd rather create authenticity, that's how to win together. By productizing myself, I can create value without trying to beat someone else.

The timing also feels right. With the rise of agentic AI, many of the barriers to building something have become much lower. At the same time, attention has become one of the most valuable forms of leverage. All of those factors came together and convinced me that this was the right moment to build a brand.

You wrote that "attention is the new leverage." Could you explain what you mean by that, and how it relates to Carpediem Sculpture?

Naval has a manifesto that I would like to believe is true: the idea that everybody can win. Especially in a future shaped by AGI and humanoid, I like to think more things can become positive-sum games, if we choose to build them in certain way.

It makes me wonder: when most forms of labour, whether physical or cognitive, are automated, what kind of work will people choose to do? My idealistic answer is that more of us will become creators, much like Rick Rubin. In that world, the attention people choose to give your work becomes one of your greatest forms of leverage.

A framework that has influenced my thinking on the latest wealth creation is Naval's formula: combining accountability (building a personal brand), with leverage (creating systems that can scale), and specific knowledge (doing work that feels like play). I believe that wave is coming towards us, and I hope I can surf that wave! That's why I felt the timing was right to start.

Of course, that's just how I see it. I could be wrong, and I'm keen for you to reach me and tell me your perspective.

What would you like to challenge yourselves to as a company?

Right now, most of my attention is focused on Carpediem's larger-scale sculptures and watchmaking. I'm currently creating an oversized ring sculpture in stainless steel, extending the idea of wearable architecture into interior spaces and the urban landscape.

Last May, we held a month-long exhibition at Hven Gallery in Nakameguro, where we exhibited a 1.2-metre prototype suspended in the centre of the gallery.

What inspired you to take something originally designed to be small and worn and reinterpret it as a large-scale sculpture?

It all happened quite naturally. While Robin and I were planning the exhibition at Hven Gallery, we started talking about the immersive installations that brands like Gentle Monster create. We liked the idea because it would let people experience the jewellery as a space they could actually walk through. (One day, I'd love to make an even bigger inflatable version!) That's how the 1.2-metre sculpture became the centrepiece of the exhibition.

Later on, I started learning more about the context of Manhattan real estate, and, together with a little inspiration from Andy Warhol, it sparked another idea. I began thinking of the sculptures as an extension of the jewellery, bringing wearable architecture back into architecture itself, and eventually into the urban landscape. I'd love to see one installed in someone's penthouse, in the lobby of a private club, or even in a public plaza on Fifth Avenue.

Another direction I'm exploring is watchmaking. I'm currently studying George Daniels' books out of curiousity. It's completely new territory for me, so we'll see where it leads.

What made you decide to start studying and making watches?

I love something Ralph Lauren once said: he only designs clothes that he personally loves to wear and that he finds beautiful on other people. I relate to that philosophy. My next project, the Boa Nova Watch, follows the same idea. It's inspired by the Boa Nova Tea House in Porto, designed by Álvaro Siza, it’s an extraordinary building that sits directly on the rocks, like a cat basking in the sun. For me, that watch completes my personal collection of daily wear designed objects.

A watch always felt like the missing piece of the collection. Thanks to my brother, who introduced me to the world of horology, I discovered fascinating work by makers such as Otsuka Lotec, particularly its original mechanical movements, as well as the contemporary designs of Patcharavipa. Like everything else I've talked about, Carpediem is really a collage of the things that genuinely inspire me.

This is the last question. Is there anything you hope to see happen in the creative industry in the future?

I'd love to connect with more people in the fashion and art industries and find opportunities to collaborate. One of the reasons I'm putting myself out there through umu and other creative communities is to meet like-minded emerging artists. Hopefully we can inspire each other, and maybe encourage more people to start creating too.