A few months ago during Sydney Design, I went to a talk by Noriko Kawakami, the Associated Director of 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT in TOKYO MIDTOWN. 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT is a centre for design and creation directed by Issey Miyake, Taku Satoh and Naoto Fukasawa.
She talked about how skilled traditional Japanese crafts were disappearing because of the cheap mass produced products overwhelming the market. She mentioned that traditional crafts and designers had to collaborate with each other to keep the traditional craft and skills alive. One of the most inspiring designs she talked about was, Issey Miyake's 132 5.
This collections of clothes are based on 2D geometric shapes and origami. These shapes can be pulled open into dresses, skirts, shirts and pants. Whats really amazing about this collections is the fabric. The material is made out of "up-cycled" polyester fibres from old tents and sports wear from the recycling company TEIJIN. The company fully breaks down the fibre to a molecular level and re-weaves it like new polyester fibre. The tough properties of the fabric allows the geometric shape to kept its form and still open and fold back to its original fold.
