From a single grain of wheat

Itoi

I see your inspiration for entering the fashion world sitting over there on display. [Points off-stage]

Minagawa

Ah, yes, the coat.

Itoi

[To the audience] Did everyone see the coat that Minagawa didn’t make?

Minagawa

[Laughs] When I was 19, I went on a trip to a town called Rovaniemi, near the Arctic Circle, and found this coat. I wasn’t a fashion designer at the time, but when I was helping out with a Paris show for a certain fashion brand I wore this coat.

Itoi

I see you’ve treasured it all this time.

Minagawa

Even though I was studying in Paris, the front lines of the fashion world, I felt drawn to clothes like that coat. I felt like I had seen fashion in this article of clothing I’d found outside of the known fashion world, and it made me realize there were many more ways to go about it.

Itoi

So the coat was the catalyst that made you think, as a designer, “This is what I want to express.” It’s like the coat was a piece of stationery, and you accepted the message and feelings written upon it.

Minagawa

That’s right. There was another catalyst, as well. It was the dead of winter when I was up near the Arctic Circle in Lapland. It was so cold that I spent a lot of time in the library.

Itoi

Because it was cold. [Laughs]

Minagawa

I found a single book translated into Japanese. It was an art book. The artist had written the words, “Anyone can become an artist. But not everyone can create art.”

Itoi

Ooh.

Minagawa

I thought back on that after I went to Paris. It’s true that anyone can call themselves a fashion designer or a creator.

Itoi

All you’ve got to do is print it on your business cards.

Minagawa

I don’t know if I can be the real thing, but I got my start from the coat I found in the Arctic Circle, and the Japanese book I found in the Lapland library. I have the same feelings now that I did back then.

Itoi

Did you mind traveling alone when you were 19?

Minagawa

I liked it better that way. I felt at ease having perfectly silent conversations with myself. Although that might sound a bit dark. [Laughs]

Itoi

[Laughs]

Minagawa

I didn’t understand the language, so when I went into a shop, I would watch the daily lives of the locals and ruminate on my own thoughts. That was the best part of my trip.

Itoi

Those times seem like the root of who you are.

Minagawa

That might a surprisingly large part of what design is. Rather than just drawing a picture, it’s what you’re thinking on in your head.

Itoi

Yeah. A lot disappears when you vocalize something.

Minagawa

That’s true.

Itoi

There are things that you have thought a number of times but have not reached to the answer for. Things that you try to talk about with your friends, but you still feel you are not close to the answer and keep thinking over and over.

Minagawa

Right. When I’m traveling, I like to sit and space out in ordinary places like coffee shops and libraries. At night I’ll even go to bars and sit among the rowdy crowds of locals.

Itoi

You’re seeing a genuine slice of local life.

Minagawa

I’m not really interested in famous tourist spots. I’d rather watch an old man spend the whole day fishing and imagine what he was thinking when he sat down next to the “NO FISHING” sign.

会場（笑）
[Audience laughs]

Itoi

There are certain people you can imagine spending quiet time alone, and certain other people you can’t, even if it’s late at night, or they’re riding a train. I feel like I can trust people who I can imagine spending time alone, because they can probably do their best without anyone else’s help. That’s exactly how I see you.

Minagawa

I have fun with other people, but there’s a sense of relief when I’m by myself. Like I’m at my own home base.

Itoi

Your home territory.

Minagawa

Exactly. I’ve always liked that feeling.

Itoi

What’s present in your home territory comes out into the world in the form of your work. It never really runs dry. Do a lot of your ideas come from your own personal territory?

Minagawa

Yes, they do. I’m sure it’s the same for you, where the more things you create, the more your creations complement one another.

Itoi

Yes, exactly.

Minagawa

People ask me if I ever run out of ideas, or if I ever have trouble coming up with a new pattern. But that’s not the case.

Itoi

But I think all creators have a certain wall to face. Their work becomes routine, and as they repeat what they’re good at, they’re going to fail at least once.

Minagawa

Yeah.

Itoi

But you still use all the textiles you’ve made in the past, don’t you?

Minagawa

I do.

Itoi

I think that’s rare. The only other case I can think of is when musicians perform the same song in different ways.

Minagawa

I can see that, now that you mention it. It’s important for an illustrator to be recognizable through his work. But I want to keep changing as I go. I want to try different art styles, different modes of expression, different ways of imagining.

Itoi

Yeah.

Minagawa

For illustrators or graphic designers, there is enjoyment in bringing out their own characteristics, but for fashion designers, there’s some different sort of enjoyment.

Itoi

I see.

Minagawa

When I make a new textile, I might aim, for example, to use the same techniques from my previous work while going in the opposite direction with my imagination. Fashion collections come out twice a year, with the changing seasons, and that pace establishes a really good rhythm.

2016-12-06-Tue

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