Isamu Katayama: Backlash
Japanese fashion designer Isamu Katayama has dedicated his career to pushing the boundaries of working with leather. fluoro spoke with the designer about his work and his current temporary boutique at Kogan Gallery, Paris, France.
Born in Hiroshima, Japan in the 1960s, Katayama has been interested in leather since his childhood, its scent evoking the motorcycle tours he shared with his late father. In pursuit of his dream, he moved to Tokyo in 1983 and began working at a bag manufacturer, allowing him to be in contact with leather hides throughout the year. Starting his brand ‘Backlash’ in 1998 Katayma wanted to do something new, naming his brand as response to the traditional Japanese way of working with leather.
Working with leather takes a refined skill, Katayama believes craftsmanship represents about “70% of my work. It relies on the experience of the people we work with.” While Katayama works primarily with leather he also experiments with a range of materials. “Leather is truly a unique and ‘deep’ material and I don’t find any other fabrics competing with it. I try to do the same kind of treatments on woven items though,” he says.
Kogan Gallery, Paris, France recently invited Katayama to present his Backlash AW13/14 collection within the gallery space. Presenting his collection within the gallery has caused him to “think about the balance between reality and creation”. He also compares the way Japanese and Parisian people interact with culture, “Japanese people have a certain way to understand other cultures and reinterpret them in their own way to create something new. ” Made in Japan” also means security,” he says.
The gallery space is a dark colour palette with the walls displaying imagery of a forest. Katayama contributed his vision to the layout of the space, with the walls based on the landscape he saw from Finland’s airport, “something mystical but real at the same time.”
Kogan Gallery Katayama’s Backlash collection is on display at , Paris until Wednesday 22 January 2014.
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