Vol.4
There are products that are born precisely because we are not bound by conventional manufacturing practices.
■Did that encounter lead to the development of any ideas or the materialization of ideas for manufacturing?
"It wasn't so much that I encountered it, but rather that I had decided to create something much earlier."
■Were you interested in making things in general?
"I guess I was just getting bored of the web (laughs). My current main job ( website consulting and production) is ultimately about making things for other people. There are customers, and I create websites as a way to express what they want to communicate. Over the past 20 years, I've worked with many clients and manufacturers, and heard a lot about their attitudes and feelings towards making things. Their passion for making things, their thoughts about it, the difficulties they faced -- listening to those stories, I think I was envious of them for making and providing things themselves.
So when it came time to actually get started, I didn't know exactly what to do, but I wanted to try making something. Because I'd never really made anything before (laughs). So I asked Kanemitsu to come and get someone with experience making things. Anyway, I was really just groping around. I didn't know anything. 'How do you make clothes?' 'What kind of people make them, anyway?' (laughs)
■Moreover, there is no other situation where kimonos are upcycled, so rather than groping or searching, it is more like pioneering.
"Yes, Kanemitsu figured out how to overcome each challenge one by one. It was really a trial and error process. If it had been normal manufacturing, I think it probably would have been quicker, but I didn't know what to do. I had to undo the kimono, wash it, etc. I started each step of the process without knowing anything about it.
Also, the ideas I come up with are probably strange thoughts born from being an amateur with no experience in making things (laughs). I casually say things like, "Can't you do this?" I think that's why they turn out a little unusual. Of course, Kanemitsu, who is bringing them to life, has really worked hard. He goes to all sorts of places for advice and has them experiment."
■How long did it take from the launch of the brand to the first item being completed?
"How long is it? I think it took more than six months to create a prototype of the dress. Then, I brushed it up based on that, so I think it took almost a year to create the first one. At least three seasons must have changed."
■What was the most difficult challenge?
"With dresses, I had to wait until I found a design and shape that I liked. Then I had to decide who to ask to make it. First, I had the pattern maker give me the pattern and make a paper pattern. From there, I made an actual sample and tried it on. I kept making improvements, saying this part isn't right, or I could change this a little more. So it was really a trial and error process.
However, in the case of dresses, the kimono is not disassembled. I give them a piece of material (the kimono) and ask them to make it like this, and then they take the parts for the dress. So there are relatively fewer steps than with other products. So, I think it was around the time of the patchwork stole that I started to encounter various difficulties."
■So the closer you get to the brand concept of "using it all up," the more difficult it becomes.
"That's right. And then there's the shape of the item. Basically, patchwork is made by combining a variety of different things. First you have to start by "unraveling the kimono". Well, even that is a lot of work (laughs). We tried unraveling it ourselves, and it took us an entire night to unravel one kimono. That's how hard it is to unravel a kimono, in other words, to turn it back into a bolt of fabric. We take it apart like this, think about how to combine it, and then put together a product.
Then, after that, we were told that because they were second-hand clothes, they had to be washed. We had to consider many times whether it would be better to wash them from the kimono stage or after they were made into products. Yes, I think Kanemitsu spent the most time considering the issue of washing."
