colorsshowsnewspeopleplacesshopstrends

villi vlli
sells nail stickers that take the hard work out of manicure. The company only started in 2010, but already collaborates with 27 amazing design houses, such as AVANTGARDE, mercibeaucoup, FRAPBOIS, Theatre Products, galaxxxy rocks and others. Currently, villi vlli doesn’t yet sell abroad, so you’ll have to visit Japan to get these awesome stickers.

Lagi musim
Another company started in 2010, Lagi musim is run by the 33 year old Takeshi Higaki, who starts to laugh when I ask his age. The company especially sells creations featuring lace custom made in Paraguay according to designs by designer Japanese designer Kana Muraki. The lace is really cute and colorful.

KIWI
has started selling T-shirts featuring garbage collected on the streets in foreign cities. “More than doing it for ecological reasons, we just like the shapes of the items,” says designer Sachi So. “Shapes you can’t really make yourself.” The items are applied to the T-shirts with synthetic resin. They don’t come off, even when thrown in the washing machine. Garbage as art!

sewdA
creates original print designs that are silkscreened onto textile. The designs are very simple and cheerful, and easy to mix and match. They make you feel that it’s spring all year round. The company is still quite young and it’s creations are sold at only five shops. You can also purchase them online.

NEO RESISTANCE
is another brand new company. “We just started this January,” says designer Takashige Mukai. There are still few places selling NEO RESISTANCE’s creations, but starting next year it will start selling online. The design looks casual, yet chic. “We try to combine street and high fashion in our designs,” explains sales manager Chie Miyajima.

hcubuch (pronounced as “foo boo”)
starts selling ladies shoes this autumn. What caught my attention was a series of leather shoes in different pastel colors hanging from a laundry line. “They are dyed after completion,” explains designer Nobue Horiyama. The Osaka based company has a shop in the city’s Chayamachi district, and also sells at Hankyu Department Store in Osaka’s Umeda. It will start selling online from December. It doesn’t know yet if it can ship abroad.

TSURU by Mariko Oikawa
always displays shoes with sophistication and elegance. And this time, once again, designer Oikawa does not disappoint. “I imagined a housewife in Mississippi in the 1950s,” says Oikawa. “This is not unisex. These are shoes that can only be worn by women. They are very feminine.” She continues, “My imagination differed from today, when women work. This is about women who stay at home, takes care of the children and have the time to think about fashion.”

Amaort
is a Hokkaido based company specializing in rain boots. “There weren’t many Japanese companies that specialized in rain boots, so we wanted to make rain boots that fit Japanese feet.” Surprisingly, they became popular abroad too. “Two years ago we exhibited at Who’s Next in France and found that people in Europe got very excited about our designs,” says founder Takuya Nakagawa. Next year’s new design features a very cute polka dot design. “That will sell well,” says Nakagawa with much confidence. I tend to Agee. They look great.

In between, I ran into Tokyo based French stylist Marianne who tried on one of the artworks hanging on the wall. Looked good, don’t you think?

N
is Nozomi Kakimoto’s headwear brand. This is actually N’s debut. “I’ve created hats for friends, but this is the first time to go public,” says Kakimoto. Kakimoto’s choice of materials is extremely interesting. Amongst others, she uses old neckties and cut up curtains.

Kakimoto choose N as her brand name because she liked why her mother gave her the name Nozomi. “It means hope and my mom explained that she gave me the name hoping that I would have a beautiful soul.”

I think Kakimoto’s mother can rest assured. And the beauty of Kakimoto’s heart shines through in her creations, which exude gorgeous simplicity and authenticity.

FLUORESCENT
started 15 years ago as a silkscreen company in Tokyo’s Sangenjaya district. This year they are introducing fluorescent silkscreened bags that blow you away with their cheerful, bright and clear colors. “It is really difficult to balance the colors,” explains owner Etsuo Komagata. “We combine fluorescent inks with other inks for the best effect.”

LIGHT CUBE
is a 10 year old design office that last year launched its own bag line. “We want our bags to look like living things, so you can fall in love with them as if they were pets,” says Haruna Hayashi. She runs the company with her husband and is in charge of bag design.

We also introduced LIGHT CUBE last year

MAMEDENQ
creates super cute character accessories. The main character is a rabbit by the name of Mojyame who makes hats for a long haired fruit growing on trees called Mocomoconoco. FUN!

“Everybody in our company is a designer,” says owner and head designer Takuya Kuruda. “We visit stores all over Tokyo and make these accessories in front of customers. They can say what they want and we make it.”

Owner and head designer Takuya Kuruda

iliiliili
creates women’s fashion with a playful feel to it, many items a bit oversized. The modern designs are a joy to look at.

Tokyo wani department store
makes objects from rattan for use as interior or shop display. Owners Mio Umekita and Keisuke Hosaka make everything by hand. It has nothing to do with fashion but their playful designs are so much fun to look at I just had to share. This is the second time for them to participate in rooms and this time they made their booth look like a huge bento box with the white wall representing rice.

When requested, the two also make awesome headwear representing everything from food to flowers.

OLOR JAPAN
brings light into your life with brightly colored toy-like candles that look like cakes, animals and even faces. With these things in your room you can only feel happy.

proef
launched only last year, but their amazingly designed tights already sell in Japan, The United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macao. Their designs are simple and geometric and add something absolutely unique to your legs.

Last Saturday I shot Marianne wearing proef tights at Fashion’s Night Out Tokyo

So, which is your favorite?