niime 百科

Encyclopedia of niime

The interview covering the “Sew team” has finally reached its apex. This time we cover various topics, titled: Summer Holiday – A remarkable extended vacation. Please enjoy the laughs and tears of the team!!


〈continued from the previous discussion〉


—— Ms Magome, please.

Magome

What am I supposed to talk about? … about my motivations and such?

—— What part of your job feels fulfilling, and what is difficult?

Magome

I cut materials, which is crucial work in that each piece has to make a good sale. Each one has different colours, and how you cut with different angles gives you different looks. It’s the break-even point of sales. I’m free to work as I please, but I have so much responsibility. I feel rewarded in that.

Miyazaki

She is interesting. She does crazy things. Yesterday, we had a sewing machine training meeting, and I asked her to record. I was surprised that she did it from unusual angles.

Magome

(laugh)

Miyazaki

She videotaped it from the back of sewing machines.

—— Where did she videotape from? … from someone’s back?

Miyazaki

We typically tape from the front, you know. And she shot people’s facial expressions.

Katake

She focused on all the unnecessary spots.

—— She didn’t tape hand movements with the sewing machines and from the front?

Miyazaki

No, none of the essential spots.

Magome

I got close to take the crucial spots.

Kawabata

(laugh)

Miyazaki

Personally, I want her to tape them more clearly for viewers to see. She is a little careless. I think she has such a cute personality…I could say she is not a little lax but seems instead a little out of it.

Kawabata

I don’t know how to say but … she is crazy. (laugh)

Miyazaki

That’s right. You could say that.

Kawabata

Yeah, in a good sense, she is crazy.

Miyazaki

She puzzled me…made me think, “huh?”

Kawabata

I thought we understood each other though, I went straight, and she went right. When I looked back, I found that she was gone. (laugh)

Magome

Did I do such a thing?

Miyazaki

We cannot communicate with you properly.

—— Have you noticed it by yourself?

Magome

Ummm. I was often told so, and I try to do it properly.

Miyazaki

You are a natural airhead.

Magome

I can’t get it right sometimes. (smiles bitterly)

—— Well, back to the interview, I asked your motivations and…

Magome

What was it?

—— Challenging for you?

Magome

Challenging for me…

—— What is difficult for you?

Magome

…

—— Do you have anything you struggle with?

Magome

Ummm. What do I have?

Miyazaki

You haven’t thought about it? (laugh)

Magome

No, I haven’t. (laugh)

—— (Everyone laughs)

Magome

Ah? What I always keep in mind is … well, I want to create new products. So far prevailing “tamaki niime” products are usually favoured by those in their 30s, who buy our products. I want to work on making creations favoured by those a bit younger, which is where we make much of our sales now. “tamask” and “tamafukuroo” sell well to all ages, and that’s where I want to target making such creations.

—— You talked about your future vision, not current.

Magome

Sorry. (laugh)

—— It’s okay. Thank you very much. It’s good to know your expectations. Well, Ms Katake, what do you think of the present?

Katake

Ummm, currently. We may be able to move on in different ways. I am not optimistic and always worried.

—— You always have an obsession in that you must be doing something?

Katake

I think so. I’m always pressed for time, or I should say, battling with time. I still want to use up 100% of my energy before going home, hoping to finish up work, but a lot of days, I can’t finish. I have so much pressure from those desires.

—— Your stress just piles up?

Katake

I blame myself every day as to why I can’t do it. I think I have too many aspirations. (smiles bitterly)

—— Are you stressed out?

Katake

I could release my stress by being more precise in my sewing work.

—— I understand.

Katake

So I create my own stress, but also release that stress myself. It is like playing a game.

—— I think creation has such aspects. You are depressed if you can’t create well, but you feel lifted up when you are satisfied with what you make.

Katake

Indeed. That’s an interesting facet. The feedback quickly reverberates from customers. Since online-shopping has started, we know their response immediately after shipping.

Miyazaki

Absolutely. It’s speedy.

Katake

It is exciting. We have just started and don’t know if we can continue. We are worried about this stay-home lifestyle due to the state of emergency. I wonder if we could find other ways like online shopping…something like playing games, something we have a habit of doing without any particular thought.

Miyazaki

A bit complicated! (laugh)

—— That’s your goal, right? What do you want others to do?

Katake

Each has their own way, which they do on their own. I tell them to do it in their own way.

—— In that case, there are various methods of sewing.

Katake

I think so. We all have different ways. Even though I teach sewing to the new staff, the easiest and quickest way for each individual is different, which is fine as long as sewing is done nice and quick. I used to be of the mind that it has to be some specific manner, but I found that I was being prejudiced. The right way I rigidly stood by didn’t always work well. That’s why I had to change my mindset that each method though different, should be alright as long as the end result was good.

Miyazaki

You are right. It doesn’t help to overthink.

Katake

Yeah, that’s why I try not to overthink and make a habit of moving forward.

—— Thank you so much. Well, finally, I would like to ask each of you about your goals for the future.

Kawabata

A comprehensive vision?

—— Yes, you can give a broad view, like “I want ‘tamaki niime’ to change like this!”.

Kawabata

I’ll just talk about the near-future vision.

—— Okay.

Kawabata

It’s about the Fall and Winter items. Right now we have “tamafukuroo” as our new product.

—— It is not “tamafukuro” ( *fukuro means bags ), but it’s “tamafukuroo” ( *fukuroo means owls).

Miyazaki

Yeah, the product is a bag. Owls are said to bring happiness.

—— They are symbols of happiness. You mean they bring luck.

Miyazaki

It doesn’t have a deep meaning. They are big bags. We connected the word fukuro to fukuroo. It is “Tamaki’s fukuroo.” “Tama” also means happiness, that’s why we named it the “tamafukuroo”.

—— They are fukuro, but you call them fukuroo.

Miyazaki

Yeah, we sent our message on LINE that we wish they could bring much happiness and luck. Please make sure to write that!

Kawabata

Yes, please advertise that a lot. (laugh)

—— Certainly.

Kawabata

You know, people are currently depressed due to this pandemic…

Miyazaki

That’s why we named it “tamafukuroo”!!

(Everyone, a big laugh)


—— You stole my words. (laugh)

Kawabata

I think we could make people happy with our products, “tamafukuroo”, or “tamask” because when you wear it, it affects your mentality. We are sending out a message. Because we are producing items to warm people’s hearts, that’s why we have good online sales.

—— I see. That’s the core.

Kawabata

I admire Ms Miyazaki’s ability to come up with ideas. The patterns she makes look exciting and easy, but are hard to sew. Just like the cooks whose recipes are simple, but only skilled cooks can create a masterpiece. Her patterns look easy, but only an experienced sewist knows how to make unique patterns. And we, the “Sew team” can induce creation and make such products. We are criticised for not keeping up with production, but we want to make a more vigorous effort speeding up.

—— I see.

Kawabata

And I want to work on making clothes or items that help uplift people. Having just shawls, basically, we need to create more variety to attract customers. I want to think up new concepts.

—— I see. I understand.

Miyazaki

What you said is good. I don’t know if I am doing that, I am just doing whatever I can think up. I appreciate your comments, and I am glad to hear that.

—— ….

Miyazaki

I really want to do everything I can. I just remembered that we used to have more Banshu-ori factories and companies about 30 years ago when they were in bloom. I wondered why we didn’t have any brand designers or clothing companies in Nishiwaki. My parents ran a weaving factory, and we had a lot of leftover materials at my parents’ house, so I asked my brother to be a fabric wholesaler for clothes makers, and we actually did it.

—— I didn’t know that.

Miyazaki

Yeah, I was 26 years old after the birth of my first child. Without a lot of thought, I simply made a children’s clothing brand. First, I made the children clothes for my relatives and neighbours by request, and then afterwards, because of so much need, l asked the store to place my products to sell. At that time, I had a problem getting the right materials to make what I desired. I asked my brother if he could make the original materials just for me, and he replied to me, “Are you stupid? Do you know how much it costs to make 30 meters of materials?”. I found out that the dyeing materials, personnel expenses and everything cost a large sum of money. I realised that I was thinking about making clothes too simplistically.

—— I see….

Miyazaki

After 3 children, one of my friends in Kobe asked me to make clothes, which made me start a company again. I built a women’s clothing business, having sideline workers and the staff in Kobe for sales. It was hard because I had small children. I was a mother and wife who had to do all housework, childcare, and business. I had many obstacles to overcome, but I worked hard till late at night because I liked the job. That’s why I admire my boss for building up this company.

(Everyone silently listens to her speak.)


—— Ummm…

Miyazaki

Because she has accomplished what I wanted to do. I didn’t want to build up my company any more. I just want to support her and to do anything I can for her. This is a part of my life where I could encounter her. During the day, I could make what I want to make with the excellent materials here, that’s why I feel delighted. I have never imagined that my life has developed into this opportunity. I really appreciate that.

—— Oh, is that right ….


In her talk, it tells her deep thoughts of encountering “tamaki niime”. We can see a woman’s life who was born and grew up in the Banshu-ori district. She overcame her creative challenges while struggling to work and take care of her family.


—— Thank you so much. Well, Ms Magome, again, we have already asked you about your future expectations, but do you have anything to add?

Magome

As Ms Kawabata mentioned previously, I also believe that the colours are very essential to help us move our sensibilities. So I want to work with colours to help people and Japan move in promising directions.

(Everyone laughs)


—— With colours, right?

Magome

Yes, with colours.

—— I see. It makes a difference in materials of colour patterns when cutting clothes. Thank you so much. Next, Ms Katake, please.

Katake

Because of the pandemic, it has been easier to outsource the sewing work, and I found out there are some people who have the same ideas as mine, which may give us another opportunity. I don’t mean to make benefits for expanding the company. Basically, I like shawls. So I hope to explain the goodness of shawls to people who are unaware. I want to have more chances at various places to express my feelings of how much I was impressed when I wore one for the first time. I expect to do so on the website because we are unable to go abroad. I think many customers never had shawls, but now buy them since we started selling them online.

—— I see.

Katake

I have been thinking of going to basics on how we could spread the goodness of “tamaki niime”. At the sewing factories or denim’s factories that we visited, I had the chance to speak to the administrators. You know what we are doing is different and strange to them. They told me that they have never seen such products which is extremely good. I realised that our products are essential.

—— The problem is how you spread that goodness.

Katake

I have been about thinking that. Do you know we hang shawls as curtains?

Everyone looks at the curtains of shawls on the windows in the sewing room.


—— They have been on my mind.

Katake

One day, the boss made that change.

Miyazaki

Yes.

Katake

Like a gift. I arrived around 8: 30 in the morning, and found the curtain of shawls all around the windows. It created a relaxed ambience.

Miyazaki

It was so cool.

Katake

Like, WOW!! I was very excited.

Miyazaki

I was impressed, too.

—— Ms Tamaki loves to surprise people.

Katake

I knew she was putting up curtain hooks and hanging curtains at the shop. So I knew the shawls were going to be hung in the sewing room, but I assumed we would have to do it ourselves.

—— Oh, I see.

Katake

But, the next morning, I came in to see them hung.

—— Yes.

Katake

I wondered, “What? She did that all by herself? “

Miyazaki

She did it during the night, staying late.

Katake

I can see that she might have enjoyed doing such a task.

—— There is no doubt about it.

Katake

She likes surprises and creating happiness.

—— I agree.

Katake

I came here because I like that kind of character. I hope we can spread such feelings.

We accomplished our goal of covering the “Sew team” with a series of three frank discussions. “tamaki niime” products are created through a baton relay with each team. The “Sew team” is the last anchor of the relay, which helps “tamaki niime” creations become realised. We can see the vital essence of “tamaki niime” via each of the four teams’ discussions, through their different personalities, ages, and experiences. I enjoyed sharing time with them.

Original Japanese text by Seiji Koshikawa.
English translation by Adam & Michiko Whipple.