Tet / Glasses. Brown
Tet / Glasses. White
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Wacko Maria Interview | LN-CC
LN-CC have compiled this great read by interviewing highly coveted Japanese label Wacko Maria.
Founded in 2004 by retired Japanese soccer players Keiji Ishizuka and Atsuhiko Mori, Wacko Maria has quickly established itself as a major player in Japanese contemporary menswear. Their sharp tailoring, 50's and 60's inspired patterns and appreciation for American popular culture are all filtered through Ishizuka and Mori’s understated humour and aesthetics to produce a unique final product.
LN-CC: I guess first of all we’d like to know how you guys met and how you started the brand.
Mori: My partner Ishizuka and I were both football players - we played together in the Japan team and in the J-League together and have been friends since then. I opened a bar in what is now our showroom and we used to hang out here alot. We got talking and decided to start a brand together. We then got other friends involved and this makes up the team we have now.
LN-CC: And how old is the brand now?
Mori: It's in its 7th year now. So, since 2004.
LN-CC: Is the inspiration for Wacko Maria collections always sourced from similar places, or do you change it up each time?
Mori: We have a general theme that runs through every collection – basically we make clothes that reflect a love for girls, music, alcohol and hats. Individual collections often take inspiration from particular movies and photographers. Music is also a big source of inspiration.. often I’ll get the inspiration for a collection from listening to a record.
LN-CC: We have been really impressed by the quality of your tailoring, can you tell us a bit about this?
Mori: We are really focussing on this element of our collection in recent seasons. We are working with a 50 year old pattern cutter who is collaborating with us on all the tailoring.
LN-CC: Do you regard the casual and tailored as almost like two 2 separate lines?
Mori: At the moment we are thinking about if we should separate it into two lines or not.. to be honest we like the idea of mixing it up though.. slacks with a casual t-shirt and M1 Jacket.. personally that is the kind of thing that I like, and generally speaking we make them both elements in a way that allows them to work with each other.
LN-CC: The whole thing flows as one, and makes sense together though. You use a lot of Aloha and Hawaiian style shirts, is this something that you do every season?
Mori: Yes, we try to bring this into each season.. I’ve always loved these shirts, especially worn with tailoring.
LN-CC: Have you guys always been into tailoring since you were football players?
Mori: Yes… I’ve always been into it.. l’m obsessed with the “Blues Brothers” film.
LN-CC: Obviously the brand is very well executed but in its own flavour, who do you like to be positioned next to in shops?
Mori: Generally I’m not too interested in this, but I do think that in terms of tailoring, Tom Ford is really good at the moment..
LN-CC: Clearly music plays an important part in what you do, what kind of music influences Wacko Maria most?
Mori: I listen to all kinds of music but I am really into Jamaican music from the 60s and 70s, and American music from the 50s and 60s.. that is pretty much across the board in terms of genre.. from Jazz, Blues and Rock.. If its good I listen to everything… African, Latin… in reality I like music more than clothes!
LN-CC: You can really see that in the collection… the American and Jamaican influences really come through. By the way, were did you get the soundsystem downstairs?
Mori: It was bought in a vintage shop in Yoyogi, but its pretty expensive… they cost about 5,000,000 yen! They are the first ever Altec speakers, produced 1939. They were used in cinema halls, radio shows, this kind of stuff. The amp is Western Electrics – the brand is older than Altec. That model is from the 40's but the brand has been around from the 20's…
LN-CC: Are there any particular records that stand out as important to you?
Mori: So many… lots of 7inches.. I love Miles Davis's “Kind Of Blue” and “Something Else” as all time classics.. too difficult to pick out anything in particular though!
LN-CC: Where does the “Pussy Hole Gang” slogan that you used for AW10 come from?
Mori: Do you know Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? There is a gang in that film called The Hole in The Wall gang. We took that as inspiration and changed it around a bit…
LN-CC: What do your wives think of it!?
Mori: They think we are pretty stupid!
LN-CC: Hats are also a big thing for Wacko Maria… we've noticed that a lot of people in Japan seem to wear these panama style hats… more than in the UK. What is it about these hats that you love so much?
Mori: A lot of influence comes from films… and also actors and musicians like Tom Waits, musicians from the 50's and 60's, a lot of them wore hats. I like the idea of an old guy in a dirty suit but with a sharp hat…
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Visvim Serra
This version of the famous visvim hiking-inspired boot has been updated with solutions coming from the recently released SERRA Paccard. Welt constructed, made with premium UK suede leather upper and lined with pigment-free cowhide leather the boot has been upgraded with a lower profile EVA midsole while maintaining it’s durable and rugged outsole. Also available in black, dark brown, light brown and sand.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Masamichi Katayama Interview | AnOther Magazine
Masamichi Katayama, Wonderwall office Photography by Shoichi Kajino
Tokyo-based interior designer Masamichi Katayama, head of the Japanese firm Wonderwall, is one of the word’s foremost architects of innovative retail environments, bars, restaurants, offices and showroom spaces. Over the past ten years, Katayama and his team have created spaces for A Bathing Ape, Original Fake, renowned Tokyo pastry boutique Pierre Hermé and Nike and are currently working on a private studio in Brooklyn for graffiti artist KAWS. To celebrate Wonderwall's 10th anniversary, projects completed since 1998 have been included in a new book entitled Archive 01 and an accompanying exhibition is currently travelling throughout Japan. Whilst he might not consider himself an artist in the strict and often overwrought definition of that appellation, many fashion and design observers beg to disagree. AnOther recently spoke with Katayama to get his thoughts on the matter. This interview with Masamichi Katayama of Wonderwall is for a must read.
What is your aesthetic?
It is not a physical thing, but it’s more about using design as a tool to reach the subconscious.
What are the themes that you are trying to communicate through your design?
To me, the purpose of interior design is to interpret the client’s brand or corporate identity and their attributes through the space and the environment. I very much value the voice of the client and other people involved in that organisation; I do a lot of research and analysis and try to create a space that would project their strengths and a sensibility that they may not be able to capture in words. My aim is to design a communication conduit where one can sense and experience the client’s philosophy through the overall space. I don’t know if you can call it a philosophy, but I am a designer and not an artist so my role is about creating spaces that are an extension and an enhancement of what the client wishes to convey.
You’ve worked on over 60 projects for A Bathing Ape. What was that collaborative process like?
It is a very simple process. Once Nigo [founder of A Bathing Ape] finds a location, we meet almost immediately. He advises me of the overall direction and we usually present him with an idea along with a scale model within several weeks. We usually do not meet again until the handover or sometimes until the opening reception. Since we’ve worked together for many years, we will meet as little as once or as much as three times per project before its completion. It's a very intuitive experience.
What materials are essential to your design philosophy?
I am not sure if this would be considered a material but lighting is very important to me. Not just artificial lighting, but natural lighting; the reflection from the products or merchandise or even the people that come in and so forth.
How did the idea for the Archives 01 exhibition and book come about?
Parco, which has a publishing department that specialises in art and design books, approached us and proposed a book to celebrate Wonderwall’s 10th anniversary. There have previously been two Wonderwall monographs which have been published through Frame in the Netherlands. I thought that through a project like this, a domestic publisher might be able to publish a book that was more accessible and possibly more affordable for students and a younger audience. They also offered to do an exhibition of our scale models. I use scale models not just for the client, but also to clarify my ideas and imagery. I thought it would be interesting for a wider audience to them help understand the working process.
Could you talk a little about a few of the project models that are on display in the exhibition?
Nowhere in Harajuku was the first project I worked on with Nigo in 1998. This particular store has been remodelled and relocated since, but I consider this my milestone project. I designed this store as if I was designing some sort of large vehicle. I really broke all the rules in retail design such as not having a display window, incorporating stairs inside the selling area and so forth, but it drew a lot of attention and will always be a very memorable project for me. Our Wonderwall office was completed in 2009. Since it is an office, it is not open for the public, although I do hope that people will come and visit virtually! I designed both the interior as well as the architectural direction. The most difficult part was the space composition — it is five storeys with two levels below ground and three floors above ground. I decided to focus on the verticality, giving the main conference room on the ground floor a two-storey high ceiling and adding skylights in the stairway.
Are your projects works of art?
I am definitely a designer and not an artist. I don’t create things on my own based on my personal feelings. I design based on a proposal or request.
What do you enjoy most about interior design?
Whether it be a store or a restaurant, I enjoy going back to the location I designed as a customer.
How is your sense of what is modern reflected in your work?
I try not to judge or categorise the information or knowledge I have or receive. I try to create new things everyday by combining and using the knowledge I have as logistically as possible.
What projects do have coming up?
The Mackintosh London store is opening its first flagship on Mount Street in Mayfair; they had a soft opening in November 2010. Also, a bar lounge called OZONE in the brand new Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Hong Kong is opening in March 2011. It will be on the 118th floor so it will be the world’s highest bar.
Friday, December 24, 2010
SOPHNET x Visvim SERRA
Label SOPHNET teams up with footwear and apparel maker visvim on a pair of Serra’s, which will be releasing on Christmas Day. The popular Serra model has been modified with a side zipper which allows the wearer to easily slip on and off the boots without the hassle of fiddling around with shoe laces. Coming in a navy blue colorway, the SOPHNET. x visvim Serra boots will be available at SOPH. stores on Decemeber 25th.
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