パラダイムシフト
Inviting leading designers and artist in and out of Japan, this exhibition displays artwork made by them, using Himeji's "Shironameshi leather" with a history of over 1000 years.
Shironameshi leather is tanned leather that keeps the original skin color of animals, that is finished with only salt and rapeseed oil without using any chemicals. Although the method of making the Shironameshi leather once almost became extinct, Mr. Matomo Nitta, a modern tanning leather craftsman, has revived it. Japan's highest peak of leather, the Shironameshi leather, is in a different context from premium leather. The craftsmanship backed by experience in a long period of time is said to be "ultimate equals unfinished." Because these are base and innocent, they are full of possibilities.
Under the theme of "Paradigm shift", this exhibition proposes the possibility of the Shironameshi that incorporates the unique perspectives of designers and artists. "Paradigm shift" means a dramatic change in social values, recognition and thought that they were taken for granted in the era and the field. As of 2021, we have no choice but to live with Covid-19 around the world. Our thoughts, actions, and lifestyles continue to change at a tremendous speed. In addition, SDGs or animal protection have been discussed for a long time. How is leather now understood as a by-product of carnivorous food? How do we face their lives? It is philosophical and there is no correct answer depending on how we pick up the issue. When we are aware of something about it, it will be a trigger to emerge the outline of new values.
SO1 gallery
2021.2.24Wed – 3.7Sun
Opening Hours: 10:00–18:00
6-14-15 Jingumae Shibuya Tokyo 150-0001
Entrance Free
Re collect
2021 | Shironameshi leather, steel frame
Yamaka reinterpreted the Wassily Chair designed by Marcel Breuer and created a steel pipe chair with the Shironomeshi. He aimed to create this chair that can be timelessly collected, such as vintage furniture handed down from person to person while repeating maintenance. The uncut wax cord gives you a sense of the hand made feeling that is similar to the Shironameshi. The "MAY ALSO LIKE" product that you can enjoy the well-proportioned appearance from every angle and the transition of the Shironameshi leather's texture that changes as you use it.
Ryuki Yamaka
Ryuki Yamaka was born in Tokyo prefecture in 1984. Graduated from Bunka Fashion College in 2006. Launched a brand named "ED ROBERT JUDSON" in 2009. Launched a brand "MARY AL TERNA" in 2013. Launched a unisex bag brand "AL" in 2020.
HAREGI
2021 | Shironameshi leather
Haori as the "ultimate best clothes" using the Shironameshi deer leather that lives at the foot of Mt. Fuji. Yamai designed it carefully so that there was no wasted leather. She dyed the seam area of the leather with natural ink, making it a design that suits well with modern Western clothing. The creating process made from natural ingredients is inspired by the spirit of the Shironameshi, which is also processed using only natural ingredients. Because it was made from the Shiromnameshi, which has been a special material for Japanese people since ancient times, it became a suggestive piece for the current situation of the clothing industry, ignoring the fading Japanese kimono culture and the benefits of nature.
Lisa Yamai
Lisa Yamai was born in Niigata prefectue in 1987. Finished Bunka Fashion Graduate University. After joining Snow Peak, Inc., started an apparel business in 2014. She assumed the presidency of the "snow peak" company, and continue to work as a designer of her own brand named "YAMAI" and "LOCALWEAR by snow peak".
Memento
2021 | Shironameshi leather, silver
Shironameshi that once was lost but revived now.
When we see the unique Shironameshi leather look that appears and disappears from the overwhelming presence, we feel eerie and even scary. It is a unique sign of the Shironameshi that we can not see in ordinary leather. Kawanishi designed this product with the theme of "remains" that seems to have come out from a costume cupboard a century ago although it has disappeared from the modern wardrobe. The fasteners and silver parts, which is the accent of the bag, were designed by a metal engraver belonging to "LES SIX" led by Kawanishi.
Ryohei Kawanishi
Ryohei Kawanishi is the CEO of the brand "LES SIX", and he taught at Parsons School of Design as a professor. Born in Tottori prefecture in 1987. He moved to England in 2006. Graduated from BA, Central Saint Martins College of Art in 2011. He moved to New York in 2013, and entered Parsons School of Design as a fellowship of Tomodachi-Uniqlo, and finished MFA in Fashion design in the school in 2015, and then he also taught at the school. Launched a brand "LANDLOAD NEW YORK" in 2015 and Kawanishi took office as a creative designer. The brand participated in the official schedule of the New York Fashion Week since 2017 and it has been having a show twice a year. He established a Japan-based brand "LE SIX" in 2017. In the same year, his work was shown at the exhibition "Is Fashion Modern?" at MOMA. He works not only in fashion, but also various works of art. He left "LANDLOAD NEW YORK" in 2020, and moved the activity base to Japan.
carbon leather boots, chain shoes, chain boots, sprit shoes
2021 | Shironameshi leather, rubber code, rubber sole / Shironameshi leather, carbon, rubber sole / Shironameshi leather, urethane, rubber sole / Shironameshi leather, rubber code, rubber sole
Leather shoes with a mixture of the Shironameshi and industrial subsidiary materials. Transition from natural leather carefully made by traditional manufacturing methods to mechanically mass-produced parts is included in these products. It reflects the life of humankind that can only gradually adapt to the surroundings that have been forced to change due to the sudden outbreak of Covid-19. During the production process, Midorikawa paid attention to the Shironameshi as its condition depends on the amount of water, and he repeated try and error again and again to achieve making shoes. No matter how the environment changes, we have no choice but to move forward step by step.
Ryo Midorikawa
Ryo Midorikawa was born in Hokkaido prefecture in 1986. Launched a shoes brand "MIDORIKAWARYO" in 2016.
cartonbox on the table / lamp shade
2021 | Shironameshi leather, lamp guard, brass socket, twist code
Shironameshi leather, wood panel, cloth
Shironameshi leather, wood panel, cloth
The opened luggage on the table is installed on the wall, and the lampshade overlaps the same field of view, expressing the placement of things that look like a bird's-eye view from the ceiling of the room. The bird's-eye view shows how to try to find one's intention while we spend difficult time due to Covid-19 and the pros and cons of using animal leather. Covid-19 limits contact with people in person. Because online shopping is more popular these days than before this pandemic, He created a cardboard box with the Shironameshi leather which is the closest material of natural animal skin. Is it possible to heal the "skin hanger" (a craving for interpersonal physical contact) through this creation?
Satoshi Ezaki
Satoshi Ezaki was born in Saga Prefecture in 1984. Graduated from the department of Creative Apparel Design, Bunka Fashion College in 2006, and launched a brand named "ED ROBERT JUDSON" in 2009 that mainly produces leather products. Started “beta post” in 2019. With an aim to “encourage people who see them to think,” it aspires to have its accessories and apparel products become a medium to raise social issues.
GIGI Pants
2021 | Shironameshi leather
"GIGI" pants are made from the Shironameshi leather inspired by karate dogi. KOZABURO launched the new label "Wave of Sound" that aims to manufacture universal and functional products for the new era. And "GIGI" pants used the pattern of the label's product. The holes that can be seen in the pants are not artificial, but natural. He wanted to give viewers a voluntary exploration of the culture and history of Shironameshi, and make them aware of the gratitude for things. There is certainly worth about things that have been handed down and survived during the era that everything changes so quickly.
This idea is similar to training, and it links Dogi with the spirit of the Shironameshi.
Kozaburo Akasaka
Kozaburo Akasaka was born in Tokyo prefecture in 1984. Graduated from BA in Fashion Design, Central Saint Martins College of Art in 2009, and then finished MFA in Fashion design, Parsons School of Design in 2016. After experience as a men's fashion designer for THOM BROWN in New York, he received a special prize at LVMH PRIZE 2017 edition. Launched a new brand "Wave of Sand" in 2021. Currently he is based in Brooklyn, New York.
Purify
2021 | Shironameshi leather, Silk string, rayon string
"Odoshi" is a technique of tying "Kozane"(small pieces made from leather or iron) with leather and silk braids that have been used for Japanese armor and helmets for a long time. Nakagawa made a tapestry using her unique "Odoshi" technique and expressed the river. The river is one of the most important sources of our lives. The good and clean environmental river where active microorganisms live is essential for making good leather, therefore she created her work with respect for craftsmanship and the beautiful nature in Himeji where the Shironameshi is produced.
Satoko Nakagawa
Satoko Nakagawa was born in Tokyo prefecture in 1980. Based in New York and Tokyo. When she visited the MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art) while she was making her graduation work at Fashion Institute of Technology, she was fascinated by the armor and helmet of the Momoyama period and began self-education. Her work selected the highest awards in three categories by the Accessories Council. After a year, she launched the brand "HATORI" in merch, 2017, and participated in a group show in New York and also her collection was shown for the first time. She moved to Japan to move the brand's production base, but custom-made products such as personal orders are consistently produced in the atelier from cutting to the assembly as the same since the brand was founded.
Untitled
2021 | Shironameshi leather, plastic bucket
A cleaning cloth hung on the edge of a plastic bucket. At first glance, we think of the material as cloth, but in fact, it is made of the Shironameshi leather. It is an illusion that we assume the unique texture of the Shironameshi is dirt on the cleaning cloth, because of the stereotype formed from past memory. Ogata created this work, which makes us misunderstand the highest quality leather material as a casual textile product. He expresses how our sense of sight is uncertain with one combination of things, and he also expresses the instability of values, it brings us the necessary awareness to live in a modern society that we are required to understand others.
Kazuma Ogata
Kazuma Ogata was born in Fukuoka prefecture, and currently based in Tokyo. He started to create a series of installation works such as tieing or piling up daily use items, and had a lot of solo and group exhibitions.