The New Year's feast gave us the idea -- Kushino Jōen

In old Japan, people ate their meals at a low table (chabudai), and when it was time to sleep, they would move the table to the side and lay out their futons. It's amazing how this efficient lifestyle was born out of limited land. If I were to express this idea with shoes, the idea that came to mind was the New Year's osechi boxes. Once the family gathering is over, they are stacked up and don't get in the way. So I thought, why not make a tiered box out of geta (wooden clogs)?


I considered making them out of wood, but I wanted something new, so I chose polyvinyl chloride. Luckily, the school had a molding machine. I focused on traditional Japanese tones for the colors. The base wooden mold replicates the contours of the sole of the foot, so it fits perfectly. The thickness of the PVC, chosen for durability, is another point I paid close attention to.


My mother was the type who insisted that I attend art classes properly. Of course, I attended all my other subjects properly as well (laughs). My mother was someone who could make clothes and anything else.

We had four brothers, so our entryway was always overflowing with shoes. If we had this back then, our entryway would have been much tidier.