JP/EN

Encyclopedia of niime

niime: A Year End and A New Beginning 2021-2022

＜A Year End Version＞

2021 . 12 . 31

—— ‘niime: An Year End and A New Beginning’ looks to become their annual event in the new holiday season. Today, we are looking at ‘A Year End Version’. Would you look back to see the year 2021? So many things happened that year.


Tamaki
Yes, indeed….


—— First and foremost, you opened the ‘tamaki niime TOKYO MACHIDA’ store! Shall we start talking about the Machida store opening, created as the new ‘tamaki niime’ HQ in Tokyo?


Tamaki
We sure did! In July, we opened even during the pandemic. We are so happy we made it.


Sakai
Yeah.


—— I could visit there in Fall, and I felt very comfortable there, which is my first impression. I guess it’s because the building was originally a residence, and your staff welcomed me to spend time in comfort. I lost track of time there.


Tamaki
That building space is great, right? And it has a mystery to it, don’t you think? We feel like we are in a cave.


—— Looking around at the products and going to the basement, we feel like exploring. We can’t feel the sense of the walls or atmosphere of the building just by looking at the pictures.


Tamaki
No, you can’t. It is totally different from looking at pictures. I really want you to feel those sensations in person.


—— Ms Tamaki said, “You don’t know until you have experienced it”. Now it really made sense.


Tamaki
In 2022, I want to connect with Machida and Nishiwaki more. We opened the store because we want people living in the Kanto district or foreign countries to visit us. Also, I always tell our staff to get out of Nishiwaki, not stay home all the time and get stimulated as creators in Tokyo. So I want to make a cycle of movement for all the staff that the manufacturing staff start a habit of going to Machida in Tokyo at regular intervals and interacting with customers, feeling the sense of Tokyo and coming back to Nishiwaki to make creations again.


—— That’s a wonderful idea that the cycle of movement influences comes back to all of your staff’s creations. For example, before the last interview of the ‘Encyclopedia of niime’, Ms Katake was excitedly talking about the experience at the Machida store.


Tamaki
We feel like what we have done will pay off there. When we know that people are pleased with our products, we are motivated and aware of new things. Moreover, we want to use the Machida store for feedback.


—— How about showing off the attractiveness of the products and displays?


Tamaki
Speaking of displays, we want to make changes here and there. I think it would be a good idea to visit the Machida shop regularly. For example, if the knit team goes to Machida with as many products in a car as they can carry with them and create interesting decorations, I think something would change every time they go.


—— That would be very interesting.


Tamaki
Our staff made and sold the products, decorated, and discussed them. It would be better to throw everything at them because they think independently. It won’t be fun if I tell them to do this or not to do that. Since having daily experiences is essential, they can try doing this many times. I think Machida is an excellent place to have all the experiments to do that.


—— I see. Talking about ‘tamaki niime’ experiments, you have started offering ‘scrap cloth’ at the Machida store.


Tamaki
We haven’t got any answers yet and don’t know the correct answer, but we hope this is a chance to make people think about how much fabric is leftover afterwards. Because we work at the site, we believe we have a responsibility to explain and want designers to make designs producing fewer scraps. Or create new products using fabric scraps…and gain some wisdom.


—— I see.


Tamaki
Speaking of kimonos, they are made using 100% of the square fabric without any scraps. Originally, previous generations did it perfectly. However, as we moved to make western clothes, we created more leftover materials.


—— I think it is great to think about the value of thrown-away-fabrics and your efforts of retrieving them, that you ask customers for prices and make them feel how to use them.


Tamaki
If you price it at 500 yen or 1000 yen, but if you make it zero, that means it’s just trash. I think this may be a significant challenge. It’s interesting to see each one’s differences.


—— One piece of scrap cloth can make you start creating, which may include a question of modern capitalism.


Tamaki
It may. Soon, our new shop in the Shima district of Nishiwaki can finally open in response to our experiment at the Machida store, and they would like to sell many fabrics.


—— ‘tamazon’, a select item shop from ‘tamaki niime’, has launched. I have the impression that it’s a compassionate online store recommending Ms Tamaki’s favourite items. I think it’s different from a massive online shopping platform, where you cannot see people’s faces.


Tamaki
I recommend them! ‘tamazon’ got good reviews online, and we want to do the same thing, in reality, so we do it at the Shima store.


—— It’s very typical of you, Ms Tamaki.


Tamaki
If you dig down, you know, we can help with food supplies!


—— That’s right. We can also make allowances for natural disasters.


Tamaki
We should have emergency water stocks or many kinds of things. So, selling them means also storing them. We reserve them and sell them. If you have to keep them, you would like to store good quality ones, right?


—— To prepare for an emergency.


Tamaki
Rather than storing them personally, we can hold them as a company. Of course, we do it for ourselves for an emergency, but the people around us make rice and vegetables for others, or dried fish and tea. So we really have to store them.


—— ⋯It doesn’t mean just hoarding, but it’s more for emergency storage.


Tamaki
That’s right!


—— Your idea is fantastic.


Tamaki
‘Emergency storage’ = ‘tamazon’. So I will increase adding things I want to store.


—— You are thoroughly prepared…wow, that’s great of you.


Tamaki
We are using the charming quote of Mr Hironobu Fujiwara, who came for ‘Idoba tamaki’, a chatting event. What he says is, “shopping is voting!”


—— I know. This is also the title of his book, which is sold on ‘tamazon’.


Tamaki
What do we eat? Since our body is created from what we eat, I realised that I could improve my quality by eating good foods. Improving what I ate, I felt much better. Considering that, we feel safer to keep good quality emergency stocks, and they can be good consumer shopping items that are “good voters” for producers. Don’t you think it is ‘killing two birds with one stone’?


—— I see. Well, I want to talk about ‘Idobatamaki’. (*Idoba means the side of a well, a place for chatting. It comes from the Japanese phrase – idobata kaigi. Kaigi means a meeting. It means people gather to talk.) This lecture invites various guests, which we started this year. Hironobu Fujiwara was the first guest at Orinas Hall.


Tamaki
I felt it was shameful not to use the Orinas Hall because of the pandemic, so I wanted to take advantage of this chance and had ‘Idobatamaki’ for the first time. They have a huge parking space and a grand auditorium. The good thing about that day was we had a show by each team in the morning, and Mr Fujiwara’s talk was scheduled in the afternoon.


—— It was held in Orinas Hall, wow!


Tamaki
Yeah, because they have a stage and microphones, we can do anything we want. I asked each team to perform 5 to 10 minutes. They did all kinds of things: playing the piano, dancing, giving presentations, showing videos.


—— Uh-huh, there were performances in Orinas Hall in the morning.


Tamaki
Yeah. (laugh) Each performance had the originality and uniqueness of that team. It’s crucial to focus on performing something as a team, right? The team’s strength was improved a lot, so that was also another good thing we had.


—— After that, ‘Idobatamaki’ has been held regularly at both Orinas Hall and Shop & Lab. This event will be helpful to choose guests and themes, and ‘niime village’ concepts.


Tamaki
I invite the guests who I want to listen to.


—— ‘tamaki niime’ creations started with Ms Tamaki’s work with a power loom, and when she invented one-item shawls, the efforts of ‘SDGs’ has been already included. Starting from that, you think of earth-friendly environments and farming and link closely with the ‘niime village’ concepts. You play a significant role in conveying the message of connecting those things…


Tamaki
I became a navigator in connecting them.


—— Yes, indeed, you made it. Bringing in people who make efforts for the ‘tamaki niime’ brand or have an affinity with it and having them talk about their actions, you are increasing those who understand the concept of those connections.


Tamaki
I often go out learning definitely because I want to gain a higher understanding, but it doesn’t help us improve any further if only I own such knowledge by myself. Therefore, all the efforts started by sharing my knowledge with my staff and understanding my thoughts. The movie festival was so successful.


—— That’s ‘Big Little Farm’, right?


Tamaki
The movie was brought by Mr Yanagi of the Minoru team, and I was not in the project. During the festival, it was an excellent opportunity; they served the rice they grew for themselves and cooked it on the fire outside, which were all their ideas. Moreover, they provided a splendid handmade theatre for watching a movie.


—— You had a giant screen using the Lab’s wall.


Tamaki
You know, at the film festival ‘*Nishiwaki Cinema Paradise’, they have time to chat after the movies with the audience. I liked that idea and did the same thing of exchanging our opinions. Some people talked about ‘tamaki niime’ there, which was an excellent opportunity for the staff to hear about us in a different place. It was also meaningful to have this event for the team to make connections with customers. We will continuously do it in 2022.


* It’s a local club of movie fans who organise and show each district’s favourite movies at several places in Nishiwaki and Taka. The movie theatres are held at Japanese style inns, classrooms of elementary schools, old city halls, campgrounds, etc. They provide a time to share opinions with the audience after watching movies.


—— Speaking of the Minoru team, Mr Ohama originally from Okinawa, Nishiomotejima, flew back there and is making an effort to get salt from the ocean and black sugar made from sugarcane.


Tamaki
It was decided that ‘tamashio’ would be sold by ‘tamazon’. If we pursue more quality, we may have the salt taken at the new moon or the black sugar made from organic sugarcane. We want to be particular about that.


—— When you start getting so particular, you may farm according to the lunar calendar, just like Japan in olden times.


Tamaki
Right, right! I certainly think so.


—— Salt and sugar, necessities of living…


Tamaki
They are fundamental. So are rice, soybeans, and Miso…


—— And soy source.


Tamaki
We make them by ourselves; that’s one of the means in the emergency stocks. I want to work hard.


—— What can I say? My impression is that it sounds like returning our living rights to our own hands.


Tamaki
I want to connect them and not be separate. If we just buy and consume them and that’s all we do, we wouldn’t know why they are good, delicious or we don’t even know if they are fake or real.


—— Hmmm.


Tamaki
That’s why I want to experience them. Unexpectedly, they are connected, but in fact, they are sold separately. I don’t mean to change all of them to 100% homemade things. Just like starting making cotton, I just wanted to know first. After learning about them, I wanted to choose. To have the opportunity to choose, I want to challenge what I have never done. At the final means for the things, if we can’t handle, we may ask to order the things that someone could do for us, but we want to create something original satisfactorily.


—— The ‘niime garden’ is in the backyard of Shop & Lab. You worked with ‘Daichi no Saisei: Rebirth of the Earth’ on raising trees and plants.


Tamaki
Yes, we did. We worked hard.


—— I was surprised by the softness of that lawn.


Tamaki
Sure?!


—— I was surprised by how resilient it was when I walked on it.


Tamaki
It feels so good. It’s fantastic if you spend time on it with bare feet.


—— How do you make it so soft?


Tamaki
As you know, it has to have air underneath. It must be the trick of the whole place; having air going through under the earth makes the lawn soft and fluffy.


—— I see. You have a wonderful open space …


Tamaki
Yes, we did!


—— Is that still in the middle of construction?


Tamaki
It’s not done yet.


—— I won’t be surprised by that because of your efforts, Ms Tamaki. It would change more and more.


Tamaki
Well, I want to keep cows and horses in 2022. My house would be built with cow and horse pens attached to the back.


—— … Wow … it would finally come true.


Tamaki
I have to ‘act on my word’. That’s why once I had an idea, I had to say it out loud. Everyone is against me to keep cows and horses, though. (laugh) My dream is that I am riding a horse along the riverbank of the Kako River. Riding a horse is considered the same as riding a bike so that I can ride a horse to the city hall. Don’t you know that?


—— Is it allowed by traffic laws? …it’s legal? Is that right!


Tamaki
Before we became a motorised society, the roads existed for horses.


—— Eventually, just like Ms Miyazaki’s imagination, Ms Tamaki would ride a horse wearing a flair skirt. (laugh)


Tamaki
I will gallantly make my debut, wearing ‘de flair’.


—— I can’t wait to see the picture for it on LINE. It’s not only a high-impact promotion for the product of ‘de flair’, but also it would be connected to ‘niime village’, which may make people long for, or give them a clear vision of ‘tamaki niime’.


Tamaki
With my sweet wish, the only fantasy I have is the one I dream of every night. (laugh)


—— Wow〜, you have so many dreams…


Tamaki
As I list them up, there are so many.


—— Yes, I genuinely feel many efforts are coming full circle. Speaking of products, the creations of many teams as ‘Group of Unique Creators’ are connected, and as I see lined-up products on Online Shop, new works are coming out more and more every day. Also, LINE delivery looks to be speeding up.


Tamaki
Not quite yet, though. I am happy our staff’s work quality improved in many areas: the delivery of Instagram, the quality of movies, the staff models taken in videos and the way of taking pictures. Learning from various instructors we invited and having experiences planting many kinds of study seeds, I could see our growth as I look back over the year. I am so happy to feel that.


—— You change the way of presenting attractiveness depending on each work’s quality.


Tamaki
I feel strongly that we’ve become connected. We have started doing ‘TenTen’ this year. That’s the one we drive around selling.


—— Loading up the car with lots of products, you drive to the shops of your business partners and have events there. We haven’t talked about that yet, right?


Tamaki
The result is that we strongly influenced the staff.


—— Is that so?


Tamaki
Visiting partner stores, we could connect with their customers, but also with sales workers, so we could finally gain an opportunity to offer the information as a creator. Also, we have opportunities to hear from the store owners. As we are introduced as Lab creators, we can listen to our products reviews, which motivates us to work hard and be happy and be thankful.


—— I see.


Tamaki
That’s why this opportunity leads us to grow as a person. Although we have been working only in one way so far. Now staff can experience selling at the stores, which may have to listen to some complex opinions. But all experiences, including such bitter words, learning a whole process from manufacturing to selling, improved a lot for my lab staff, just like I did.


—— I see.


Tamaki
I regretted that I didn’t do it well. However, I have been thinking about how to make the staff connect with both works of manufacturing and sales since we divided working as different tasks. It was a mistake that I didn’t have them go out selling because of being so busy.


—— Although there must be different good points in selling at department stores, it’s possible to work at partner stores to have closer and friendly communications.


Tamaki
Our young staff needs to talk directly with individual store business owners and professional sellers who encourage them or give them advice, correcting their mistakes. Having such helps to develop our staff over this year, staff’s skills improved. So I’m looking forward more in 2022.


—— It was perfect for your staff who work at the Lab to be able to go out selling at actual stores.


Tamaki
It was great! The pandemic was the trigger, and opening the Machida store brought a synergistic effect.


—— Then your staff come back to work at the Lab.


Tamaki
Coming back here and getting more motivation for creations, we have a good cycle for products. (talking to Sakai) All right, please conclude it!


Sakai
My 2021, let me just state my conclusion.


—— Please do.


Sakai
I really thought…when you want to grow and press forward, nothing would get done if you don’t reconsider yourself with much appreciation.


Tamaki
Recently, we’ve been talking about the importance of appreciation.


Sakai
Reflection and appreciation are essential.


Tamaki
It can help people change themselves.


Sakai
Yeah, absolutely they can if they work on them.


Tamaki
After all, we had our staff’s personal counselling, listening to many stories from them. I wonder what makes different results from people who grow a lot and ones who never change. I’ve thought a lot about it, and this must be the one, which is appreciation.


Sakai
And reflection.


Tamaki
Some people make the same mistakes after being told many times, and ones who never make the same mistake again after being told once and grow more and more, and the later ones may make a different mistake, but not the same level mistake.


—— They accept bitter bits of advice and appreciate them, right?


Tamaki
That’s it.


Sakai
If you stubbornly put up a barrier between yourself and the rest of the world…


Tamaki
Nothing can change yourself.


Sakai
If you are like that, you can’t reflect yourself nor appreciate anything.


Tamaki
That’s shameful.


—— The key is acceptance, right?


Tamaki
Yeah. That’s important for developing our growth.


—— I see. Thank you very much. I could listen to various things of ‘tamaki niime’ in ‘A Year End Version 2021‘, and you will finally open a new store in Nishiwaki, having two stores after the ‘New Year of 2022’.


Tamaki
That’s right. What would it happen? (laugh) We’ll do our best!!


＜continued in New Year’s Day ‘A New Beginning Version’＞


Thank you very much for reading ‘Encyclopedia of niime’ this year. I hope you all have a Happy New Year!


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