In the 15-year history of International Talent Support, the talents hailing from Japan have never failed to capture the attention of the jurors.The unique beauty of their portfolios illustrating their intimate worlds and deeply personal stories, translated through a strong relationship with materials, colors and shapes always stands out.
Looking at the figures proves how special Japan’s contribution is to the ITS Seismographer: in 15 years over 700 designers have enrolled and out of the 550 total finalists from 80 countries, 55 were Japanese.Even more significant is the number of Japanese winners: as many as 20 out of 158.
On September 27th - October 4th Isetan Store in Shinjuku, Tokyo organised a very special exhibition showcasing 7 Japanese past finalists: Mikio Sakabe (Selected pieces & Outfit from ITS#FIVE award-winning collection “Reversible Manga Tailoring”), Yuima Nakazato (Selected accessories & ITS#EIGHT award-winning flat circular zipper boots), Noriko Nakazato (“Fontana di Trevi” installation piece inspired by her ITS 2014 Jewelry style), Ryota Murakami (Selected knitwear pieces & Barbara Franchin 2016 artwork printed t-shirt), Hazuki Katagai (“Weapons of Love” Artwork project presented at ITS 2016), Masaki Shimizu (“Egg Paradise” jewelry collection present at ITS 2016), Chinami Tokizawa (“Sticky Jewelry” collection presented at ITS 2016).
Outfits, accessories, works of art, jewelry pieces were on show in an amazing set-up conceived by Isetan buyer Mari Terasawa, who attended ITS 2016 last July and explains the reasons for this exhibition:
Thousands of such seeds have reached us in the fifteen years of the contest’s history and have created a unique and profound connection between ITS and the finalists. A bond that shows through every corner of this installation: one of the creatives involved, Ryota Murakami, dedicated to ITS founder and creator Barbara Franchin a t-shirt that features her portrait. A connection that Mikio Sakabe, winner of ITS#FIVE, also attending the event, perfectly puts into words: