Striving for Sustainable Design: Shinohara Tomoe / Designer, Artist

"Direct Talk"

Our guest today is Shinohara Tomoe, a designer and artist.

In 2022, her design for a leather kimono won two awards

at the world's longest-running award show for advertising and design.

Shinohara debuted as a singer at 16.

Her quirky sense of style captured the hearts of fans.

Today, she's a leading designer, committed to sustainable fashion.

We asked about her creative journey and her passion for design.

Whenever I undertake a challenge,

I want to go against people's expectations.

But I also want to exceed them.

I want to make something that is different from what everyone's expecting,

and makes them go, "Now, I didn't see that coming!"

That's how I go about creating my designs.

That philosophy is also how I approach my life.

It's something that I continually aspire to do.

At the 2022 ADC Awards in New York,

her design entitled "The Leather Scrap Kimono"

won silver in the Brand/Communication Design category,

and bronze in the Fashion Design category.

The leather is from the Ezo sika deer, which is native to Japan.

The garment was designed by Shinohara for the Tanners' Council of Japan.

I didn't have any in-depth knowledge of leather before that point.

So originally I thought that we were killing these animals

just so that we could use their hides.

So when I was approached by the Tanners' Council about this job,

I decided to start by learning more about the history and the background.

Japan's northern island of Hokkaido has a growing deer problem.

Overpopulation has affected forests and other ecosystems,

hurt local agriculture and forestry,

and led to an increase in traffic accidents.

The booming population has been linked to

the extinction of its main predator, the Ezo wolf,

as well as the expansion of farmland, which has provided new feeding grounds.

Shinohara learned that in order for humans and Ezo deer to coexist in the region,

efforts were being made to manage the population

by capturing them and utilizing their meat and hides as sustainable resources.

I thought, if that's the case, maybe I could use Japanese Ezo deerskin

and design something so that more people could learn about the situation.

I really felt that strongly.

I visited a tannery and they showed me the leather material, the deerskin.

And I learned that because leather is irregularly shaped,

they have to cut it to make products out of it.

The leftovers end up getting thrown away.

But I believe those unique off-cuts embody an animal's character.

Those randomly-shaped pieces fascinated me.

So I started thinking about how I might be able to use them in a design.

The longer I stared at these pieces of deerskin,

I started to notice that the contours resembled the lines of a mountain ridge.

And if you layered these pieces together, you could create a gradation of tones.

Something that evokes a mountain landscape blanketed in beautiful morning mist.

I thought if I could express that in my design,

I could show people something they've never seen before.

That really opened up a lot of possibilities.

Her vision came together with the help of leather artisans.

That included a retired leather dyer

who revived a nearly-forgotten technique for the project.

Beautiful! Look at that subtle gradation.

The leftover deerskin trimmings were transformed into a mountain landscape.

Shinohara decided to make a kimono out of the material.

When I'm creating my designs, I ask myself what makes me, me.

So in this case, I was thinking that I wanted to make something that was true to my roots.

My grandmother was a kimono seamstress.

And to this day, I still have in my possession kimonos that she made.

I remembered wondering once

if I could ever make something that would span three generations,

like my grandma did.

So I had this burning desire inside to one day create something

that would stand the test of time,

like a tradition that's passed down for generations.

About a year later, "The Leather Scrap Kimono" was born.

Being recognized by the ADC Awards

was a chance to have the work seen by many people.

They understood that it embodied the spirit of these animals.

Through the kimono, I was able to get people thinking about the environment

and the culture of craftsmanship.

They showed an interest in those things.

And I thought that was very meaningful.

The experience was a reminder that a designer is someone who has the ability

to cast a light on those kinds of social issues

and the context behind them.

Shinohara debuted as a singer in 1995, at age 16.

She captured the hearts of fans with her quirky personality and style.

The world of entertainment was a truly enchanting place.

I was swept up.

I wanted to experiment with clothes in a way that the audience would enjoy.

So I'd wear a bunch of bracelets or all these rings

because you could see my arms when the camera came in for a close-up.

It was like I was designing myself.

Every day the ideas just kept coming.

- Did you design that outfit?
- Yes! I made it just for today.

She studied fashion at a university,

and continued to perform wearing outfits she'd designed herself.

Then came a turning point.

In 2013, she was selected to design on-stage outfits

for renowned singer-songwriter Matsutoya Yumi.

Her creations got a chance to shine in front of big crowds.

It was such a moving experience.

Yumi-san would come out on stage and the audience would all get on their feet.

I thought about how much of an honor it was for me to be a member of the team.

I've always loved being in the spotlight,

and I made my living being center stage, putting myself out there.

But this made me happier than being at the center of attention.

Getting to experience something I'd created

being unveiled in front of all those people

just made me so happy.

That's when I knew designing clothes was something I would never grow tired of.

OK! Hello, everyone.

While Shinohara continued her career as an entertainer,

she began receiving more and more design jobs.

She found herself facing an internal conflict.

I was good at expressing myself and being in the spotlight.

And design was something I enjoyed on the side.

So for the longest time, I wasn't sure if I should make design work the focus of my career.

I was in the process of figuring that out when I met my husband,

the art director Ikezawa Tatsuki.

He's someone who's made his living as a designer for years.

And whatever he creates, the quality is just very high.

Watching him, I became a bit envious.

People who dedicate themselves to a single path for a long time,

they shine brightly,

and I really admired that.

So seeing that was a big reason why I decided

I wanted to try to make it in the design world.

Just as she was turning 40,

Shinohara resolved to become a designer full time.

She went on hiatus from her entertainment career to take classes

and relearn fashion design.

She began creating original clothing.

When I began doing that, I kept reading about the Sustainable Development Goals.

So that was something that couldn't be ignored.

I wanted to design clothes in a way that addressed those issues.

And I started thinking about the sustainable efforts

that have been practiced since the past.

That led Shinohara to the Japanese tradition of kimono-making,

which her grandmother had been involved in.

A kimono is made from a single bolt of fabric,

from the sleeves, to the collar, to the body.

Almost all of the fabric is used in the creation of a single garment.

The fabric itself is rectangular,

and the construction of the kimono has no curves.

It's all straight lines.

None of the fabric is wasted.

So this traditional dress embodies the Japanese concept of "mottainai",

the idea that something is too good to let go to waste.

And it struck me that that concept tied in directly with the SDGs.

Shinohara set out to create beautiful zero-waste garments

out of unsold rectangular textiles that were going to be thrown away.

She worked on the project for a year.

Then in 2020, she held a solo exhibition,

opening a new chapter in her career as a designer.

That exhibition was really about a very simple concept,

and in that sense it was different from my public image up until that point.

So I was really anxious about it.

I thought people would hate what I was doing,

or think that it didn't reflect their image of who I was.

But instead, visitors left inspired

or encouraged to try something they'd never done before.

They really celebrated the fact that I was taking on this new challenge.

Shinohara and her husband have launched their own design firm

and are working as a team on their creative projects.

As a designer, you're faced with a question:

"How will you use design to solve the problems of society?"

We want to work together as a team to present

world-class, high-quality design solutions from a uniquely Japanese perspective.

That's one of our big goals with our design firm.

Our creative journey has just begun.

(Do you have any words to live by?)

Here it is.

"Be free, be yourself, be confident."

I came up with this in my teens.

It's something I'd say to myself when I was nervous about stepping out into the spotlight.

But I also take this to heart when I'm designing.

"Does this design feel free?"

"Does it feel like me,

and is it original?"

"And can I put it out into the world with confidence?"

These are the questions I always ask myself as I'm creating.

So I feel like these words I cherished in my teens

are even now encouraging me and motivating me in my 40s.

This is my mantra.