Vol.40 Exhibition has ended

It's been a while, everyone.

I've been so busy with the exhibition that I haven't updated my blog.

Thanks to you, many people attended our exhibitions and local order sessions, and we heard a lot of interesting stories.

We held FRIENDS DAY on Saturdays and Sundays during the event, and we had a record number of visitors, 160 people, attend.

Thinking back, I don't think I had many free days.

It happens every time, but even when I feel like I'm bored, once one customer comes, hordes of people come.

I can't help but wonder if there is some kind of biorhythm at work there.

The three of us who handled the event were myself, two pattern makers, and occasionally Haku from overseas marketing, but when a lot of people came at once, it got a bit chaotic.

It's especially hectic when seniors clash with wholesale customers, or when seniors clash with people in the entertainment industry.

I'm sorry to everyone involved that I wasn't able to speak to much.

The theme for next season was "FAKE NEWS," and there were tabloid papers available for distribution around the venue.

The content was mostly fake news, but it was made up of things that could actually happen in the near future.

We also had AR on each page, which allowed you to see the LOOK on that page.

I've included a screenshot of the page, so please give it a try.

Please use your mobile phone camera to scan the QR code next to the photo, then scan the photo on paper.

The SAFARI browser is recommended.

That's all for my thank you and announcement. Now that we've fully launched our 21AW autumn/winter collection, I'd like to introduce some of our products little by little.

This time, I would like to introduce the Cowichan, which became a hit item in AW21.

If you read my blog, you know that I love vintage items, and I own a variety of vintage low-gauge knitwear.

A famous brand is Lauren, which is the brand of Ralph Lauren's wife. (I wonder if it's still around?)

I think most of them are from the 80s and 90s, but there are a lot of attractive products such as low-gauge hand-knitted leopard, tiger, and Chimayo patterns.

I didn't take any photos of the knitwear I own, so I borrowed some from the web.

For a while, Kimutaku and EXILE were wearing them, which caused their prices to skyrocket and they disappeared from second-hand clothing stores.

It seems to have been forgotten now, as it is now becoming more common to see them in second-hand clothing stores.

When I was in my mid-20s, a senior colleague at the company I was working for at the time was wearing one, and I was so impressed that such beautiful hand-knitted items could be made that I started collecting them frantically.

Basically, I don't sell the old clothes I have at home, so they just keep piling up.

The theme for 21AW is "longing of the usual."

My daily life has been threatened by the coronavirus, and I feel like I can no longer live a normal life, so I've often wondered what my normal is.

From then on, I realized that American casual, which has always been my favorite thing since high school, is my normal style, so I focused on American casual for 21 AW.

I think there are many aspects of vintage clothing that make it difficult to wear, so I would like to eliminate that and turn it into products.

We went back to basics and created the product through a lot of trial and error.

We have been releasing knitwear every season up until now, but this time we aimed to create something that has a more real American casual feel and is also comfortable to wear.

Something that can be worn stylishly even if it stretches.

Taking this into consideration, I used 100% merino wool yarn this time.

Merino wool is the wool of a type of sheep called Merino, which has more scales (like folds in the fibers) than usual, which means it has the characteristic of trapping heat and keeping it warm.

I've also made the gauge as thick as possible, so I'm sure it will be able to withstand even the middle of winter.

It was difficult to express the pattern with the low gauge, so the pattern was all hand-stitched.

But I think that by hand-stitching it, I was able to successfully create a vintage feel.

The colored yarn is heathered yarn, and the interwoven yarn gives the overall color a subtle unevenness.

That also gives it an old-fashioned feel.

The motifs are Ezo bears and salmon.

Speaking of bears, it's salmon, right?

It reminded me of a time when I went to a bear woodcarving exhibition in Hokkaido.

I remember going to Meguro's Claska just before it closed, because I wanted to see the serious works of woodcarving artists.

I had a lot of opportunities to come into contact with Ezo bears due to special orders, and I also had frequent visits to fur tanners, so I was completely drawn to that.

The Ezo bear is a species endemic to Hokkaido, and Hokkaido is associated with the Ainu.

It seems that Ainu-related matters need to be handled with great care, but out of respect for the indigenous people, Ainu patterns are featured on the sleeves and body of the garment.

However, it seems that the Ainu people treated the Ezo bear like a god, so I decided to use the pattern because of this commonality.

One reason was that while I was thinking about the project, an Ainu exhibition was being held, and I went to see it and was very moved.

I believe we should cherish our ancestors.

By the way, my dog's name is "Retara," which means white in Ainu language.

That's how I feel closer to him.

So, this Cowichan turned out to be the most accurate to my imagination ever, so I would love for everyone to see it.

There are only a few left, so I'm not sure if you'll be able to see them in stores, but please come and see for yourself.

That's all for this time.

See you later!

NORI