Takashi Murakami: Pillows

Takashi Murakami, the Japanese Pop artist best known for his smiling flowers, has transformed his iconic symbols into collectible plush pillows. “I’ve always been making plush toys,” Murakami explained in an interview in 2018. “Twenty years ago, I started working with a company that made my flowers into plush toys. I still produce one toy every two months.” In a rainbow of colors, Murakami’s daisies can now be found in the homes of art collectors, as well as some of the artist’s A-list friends—the artist is known for giving them away as presents. In 2018, Murakami sent a multicolored stack of the fuzzy flowers as a housewarming gift for the rapper Drake. “One of the first times I visited Takashi at his studio in Japan, he gave me a …