Matsuzakaya Nagoya pairs three emerging designers with Aichi's textile and ceramics makers
Matsuzakaya Nagoya is giving three Fashion Frontier Program finalists a week on its fourth-floor event space to rework Aichi's textile and ceramics output -- Chita cotton, Tokoname and Seto ware, Owari wool offcuts -- into wearable pieces, continuing a maker-and-talent pipeline the department store has sponsored since 2023.
Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores said its Matsuzakaya Nagoya store will run Aichi Factory x Next-Generation Fashion Designers Week on the fourth floor of its Main Building from October 21 to 27, 10am to 8pm, pairing three finalists of the Fashion Frontier Program with regional materials and craft techniques from Aichi Prefecture.
Umemiya, who works with clothing that engages social and environmental themes, made a coat using Chita cotton and Tokoname ware for the event and will be on-site for the full run; visitors can customise their own garment with one of 18 original Tokoname-ware buttons -- six shapes in vermilion, grey or black -- in a roughly 15-minute, ¥500 session limited to two people at a time, first come, first served.
Horikawa, who makes wearable-art pieces exploring the boundary between the body and its surroundings, works with Seto ware and Echizen washi paper and will appear in-store on October 25 and 26 only.
Yamada works with wool selvage offcut from an Owari textile mill -- material that would otherwise be discarded -- spinning, knitting and unravelling it to show how the material is made and circulates; Yamada will be on-site October 21 to 24, running a ¥3,800 workshop where visitors knit their own mini muffler from the offcut, four people per session, with sessions at 11am and 2pm each day and advance booking preferred via Peatix.
The Fashion Frontier Program was founded in 2021 by designer Yuima Nakazato to find and develop designers who treat creation as a form of social dialogue, weighing not just what to make but why and how; Daimaru Matsuzakaya has sponsored it since 2023. For the department store, the event doubles as a showcase for its own event floor: a dated, ticketed-workshop format that turns a regional craft-sourcing story -- cotton from Chita, ceramics from Tokoname and Seto, wool from Owari -- into a reason to visit a floor that otherwise competes with every other department store's seasonal fairs for the same foot traffic.