From Isetan Shinjuku Store, Men's Building October 16th to Friday, November 1st, the "Obsevation Records of Light" joint exhibition by amchi., a rising brand attracting attention from within and outside the industry, and artist Kurina Ninomiya will be held at "ART UP," a gallery space within the Men's Creators section on the 2nd floor of the Isetan Shinjuku Store, Men's Building, from Wednesday, October 16th to Friday, November 1st.

Since collaborating with amachi. on the theme of "Obsevation Records of Light" for their Fall/Winter 2019 collection, they have continued to release works.

This time, we visited the amachi. atelier in Nagano Prefecture and interviewed amachi. designer Yoshimoto Tenchi and artist Ninomiya. In the first half, we talked about how the two met and their thoughts on knitted works, and in the second half, we moved to a mountain area not far from the atelier, a place Yoshimoto often visits to clear his head, and asked him about the theme and highlights of the exhibition, as well as their future plans.

Event Information

amachi. × Kurina Nimomiya
"Observation Records of Light"

□October 16th (Wednesday) - November 1st (Friday)
□ Isetan Shinjuku Store, Men's Building 2nd Floor = Men's Creators

Click here for details ▶

Collaborative knitwear is born from the resonance of sensibilities.

--What was theきっかけ (trigger/reason) for the two of you meeting?

Yoshimoto: Initially, I was the one who knew about Ninomiya's work from afar. Actually, the 19AW season was the first season that we seriously started knitwear as a brand, and at that time, I had always thought that rather than doing it all by myself, I wanted someone with a completely different perspective to join us. I felt that there were some things we could deeply relate to. So I contacted him directly, and then we were introduced through a mutual acquaintance.

--What was your impression of Yoshimoto, Mr. Ninomiya?

Ninomiya: When I first heard your story, there were already several episodes that I could relate to. For example, the fact that you both played with natural objects when you were little. The climate and culture of the places where you were born and raised are different, but the fact that there are many non-artificial things in your original landscapes made me feel like we were similar in some way. There were many things that I didn't feel any sense of incongruity from the very beginning.

--What was theきっかけ (trigger/reason) for you, Ninomiya-san, to start using knit as a material? It was something trivial during your student days.

Ninomiya: After graduating from high school in Toyama Prefecture, I enrolled in Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo. I wasn't in the knitting department, but in the styling department, which is related to distribution. However, it was a place where I could learn a wide range of things about fashion, so I ended up owning knitting equipment. There were times when I would buy yarn even though I wasn't knitting anything, and in my final year, my third year, I had a period where I became interested in making things. It was cold at the time, so I knitted a scarf myself. That's where it all started. I ended up with a rather strange, or rather, unusual scarf, and I liked it myself, so I wore it to school and everyone complimented me on it. From then on, I started to enjoy knitting and began knitting almost every day, and that's how I got to where I am today.

--Yoshimoto's upbringing played a significant role in his decision to become a designer.

Yoshimoto: I spent my childhood in the inland part of Northern California, and looking back now, it was a very unique environment. It was deep in the mountains with no electricity or running water, and a small community of people with diverse backgrounds, such as musicians, potters, and painters, were living there.

I think it was a natural progression for me to develop my own thoughts and expressions while being exposed to various forms of expression and thinking. I moved to Japan when I was eight years old, and started working for a brand right after graduating from high school, but even then I had already decided to start my own brand.

If I trace it back to my childhood in California, my mother made her own clothes, and the area we lived in was the center of hippie culture, so we did things like tie-dyeing ourselves. Clothing making itself was something that was quite close to me. I think that had a strong influence on me.

--It seems that the collaboration with <amachi.> has had a positive impact on your own creative work, Ms. Ninomiya.

Ninomiya: First of all, the fact that I'm not the only one who decides when to start and finish a project is a big part of it. Moreover, the concept doesn't come from me, but from (Yoshimoto) Tenchi. Tenchi decides on the general concept for the season first, tells me about books and materials that are helpful, and we share them and create together. It's like I'm reinterpreting someone else's personal worldview and interests in my own way, and that process is very refreshing. I'm enjoying making clothes with Tenchi just as much as I am making my own. I hope to continue doing both in the future. For me, there's a synergistic effect, and I'm gaining things from collaborating with <amachi.> that I can't get from my own work and activities, and we complement each other's shortcomings.

Our goal is to create works that are more intuitively engaging and mutually engaging.

--Mr. Yoshimoto, your foundation as a designer was greatly influenced by your time living in America, as mentioned earlier. Is there anything you keep in mind when you're thinking about design?

Yoshimoto: Now that I spend a lot of time in the city, I often develop concepts from the perspective of how to measure the physical and mental distance between nature and the city, and how to find and blend the time axis, universality, and complexity of nature into modern life, which changes and consumes at an incredible pace. Especially now that I often go to urban areas for work, the environment I live in while traveling, or rather, the living environment itself, has become the core of my thinking.

When asked if they felt any evolution or change in each other's approach to craftsmanship since meeting, they both answered no.

Yoshimoto: I think it's probably still in the initial stages, and we'll gradually figure out how to deepen it from here.

Ninomiya: I feel excited about the fact that there are so many things I can try. The way we go back and forth between the concept and the actual object has only been in pretty much the same pattern so I'd like to go back and forth more many times and share the worldview with things other than books and materials. With the way we've done it so far, we choose the threads together, and once Tenchi gives me the concept, I create it freely and that's it. Right now, I'd like to try a method like, "Now that A is done, let's use A as a basis and each of us think about C and B and bring them together," that kind of approach.

Yoshimoto: In that sense, I think this Art Up collaboration is a bit more in-depth than a typical collection collaboration. Up until now, I haven't given any specific requests, and I've just carefully conveyed the concept and mood I had in mind, and had them embody it in knitwear. But for this solo exhibition, we brought our ideas together and created something that's a little different from a collection.

--Nature is an important theme for both of you, but do you ever create things based on themes other than nature?

Yoshimoto: I believe that fashion is something that creates the future, so I don't really think about creating something by taking inspiration from something completely out of the blue. If we consider people's activities and thoughts, and even artificial objects, as part of nature, then I don't think we should create things outside of that framework.

Ninomiya: In the past, my body would move first, and the object would almost always be the first thing to be completed. When I was trying to understand what I had created, I often got hints from nature. Now, I expand on those hints and connect them to the origins of things I'm interested in, or to the way people are, and that's reflected in the objects I create, so the elements in the things I make might be diverse.

Yoshimoto: I collaborate because I want to incorporate things that I don't have myself, so in that sense, we might be looking for something that the other person lacks.

NEXT> We asked about the exhibition near the mountaintop, where we could enjoy a panoramic view of the city.