Style.Uz Art Week 2013: Kosuke Tsumura, Final Home Fashion Show

Koksuke Tsumura's Final Home showed his collection with a runway show at Style.Uz Art Week 2013.  Kosuke Tsumura is an acclaimed Japanese fashion designer, who in 1994 created the survival brand Final Home.  Its concept is "Survival - Protection - Function - Recycle".  The creativity of the Final Home also resides in their ability to use a wide variety of materials from filters to air conditions to 'akasuri' (a cloth used to scrub oneself in a bath).  The brand also designs other products such as sofas made form cardboard or candles made of chocolate.  I spoke to Mr. Tsumura backstage about his inspiration, which he said was the future and materials.  He said that people used to think that natural materials were primitive, but now new chemical and manmade materials are considered primitive.  Tsumura considers his designs as art and not fashion.

Final Home's jackets are multi-purpose and utilitarian.  When its pockets are stuffed with newspapers, they protect the wearer from the bitter cold. When filled with emergency goods, it becomes an evacuation jacket. 

With Designer Kosuke Tsumura

Snow Day at Kenroku-en Garden

Snow Day

The weather gods were kind to me on my recent trip to Kanazawa, Japan this past December. The week before I arrived, Kanazawa was suffering from wet, icy weather.  But while I was there, it was clear and sunny.  But on my last day on my visit to Kenroku-en Garden, one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan, it snowed, providing a breath-taking and wondrous landscape!

Visit to Sugihara Washi Paper in Fukui

While I was visiting Kanazawa, Japan for work last month,  I had a wonderful opportunity through The Art of Travel to travel to Fukui City in Ishikawa prefecture to visit the Sugihara Washi Factory.  I met the president of Sugihara Washiya, Mr. Sukihara who gave my colleague and I a special tour of the factory where they hand make Echizen washi paper from all natural materials.  The washi paper making technique has a 1500 year history.  Yet the process has not changed much and it was interesting to see how the paper is made.  The quality of the paper that is produced in the factory is extremely fine yet durable.  Sugihara washi-trees and washi-flowers designed by Joerg Gessner is currently being displayed at the Guerlain Champs-Elysées, Paris Shop until February 10th, 2013.  

Mr. Yushinao Sugihara, president of Sugihara Washiya showing us the hemp that is used to make paper.

We were also very fortunate to be introduced to one of Japan's living national treasures, Mr. Ichibei Iwanoa, who is the 9th generation paper maker in his family, who is devoted to his work in washi making.

Mr. Ichibei Iwanoa, one of Japan's Living National Treasure showing how he removes the "junk" from the hemp

The almost final product!

The "secret" ingredient that holds the paper together like glue!

  Mr. Sugihara also took us to visit the local shrine of the goddess of washi.

Ringing in some good luck at the shrine.