Issey Miyake is a Japanese fashion designer. He is known for his
technology-driven clothing designs, exhibitions and fragrances.
Life and career Miyake was born on April twenty-second,
1938 in Hiroshima, Japan. He studied graphic design at the Tama Art
University in Tokyo, graduating in 1964. After graduation, he worked in Paris and
New York City. Returning to Tokyo in 1970, he founded the Miyake Design
Studio, a high-end producer of women's fashion.
In the late 1980s, he began to experiment with new methods of pleating
that would allow both flexibility of movement for the wearer as well as ease
of care and production. In which the garments are cut and sewn first, then
sandwiched between layers of paper and fed into a heat press, where they are
pleated. The fabric's 'memory' holds the pleats and when the garments are
liberated from their paper cocoon, they are ready-to wear. He did the costume
for Ballett Frankfurt with pleats in a piece named "the Loss of Small Detail"
William Forsythe and also work on ballet "Garden in the setting".
He had a long friendship with Austrian-born pottery artist Dame Lucie
Rie. She bequeathed to him her substantial collection of ceramic and
porcelain buttons, which he integrated into his designs and presented in new
collections. He also developed a friendship with
Apple's Steve Jobs and produced the black turtlenecks which would become a
part of Jobs' signature attire. Jobs said, "So I asked Issey to make me some
of his black turtlenecks that I liked, and he made me like a hundred of them."
In March 1992 he was quoted in the International Herald Tribune as saying
"Design is not for philosophy—it's for life."
In 1994 and 1999, Miyake turned over the design of the men's and women's
collections respectively, to his associate, Naoki Takizawa, so that he
could return to research full-time. In 2007, Naoki Takizawa opened his own
brand, supported by the Issey Miyake Group and was replaced, as a Creative
Director of the House of Issey Miyake, by Dai Fujiwara.
As of 2012, he is one of the co-Directors of 21 21 DESIGN SIGHT,
Japan's first design museum. Issey Miyake lines and brands
Mr Miyake "oversees the overall direction of all lines created by his
company", even though the individual collections have been designed by his
staff since his 'retirement' from the fashion world in 1997.
Issey Miyake - main collection line, subdivided into men and women
collections, designed by Dai Fujiwara Issey Miyake Fête - colorful women's
line that "draws on the technological innovations of Pleats Please"
Pleats Please Issey Miyake - polyester jersey garments for women that are first
"cut and sewn and then pleated [...]" "to permanently retain washboard rows of
horizontal, vertical or diagonal knife-edge pleats."
HaaT - women's line, designed by Miyake's former textile designer, Makiko
Minagawa. HaaT means 'village market' in Sanskrit, the word sound similar to
'heart' in English.. A-POC - custom-collection for men and
women. Tubes of fabric are machine-processed and can be cut into
various shapes by the consumer. A-POC is an acronym of 'a piece of cloth', and a
near homonym of 'epoch'. me Issey Miyake - line of "exclusive
one-sized shirts that stretch to fit the wearer" that are sold in plastic tube,
named Cauliflower for the non-Asian market.
Issey Miyake Watches - men's and women's watches
Issey Miyake Perfumes - line of fragrances for men and women. See below
Evian by Issey Miyake - Limited edition bottle designed by Issey Miyake for
Evian water. Issey Miyake maintains a freestanding
store, named ELTTOB TEP Issey Miyake in Osaka where the full array of lines is
available. 21 21 Design Sight is a museum-style
research center for design, constructed by Tadao Ando, that was opened in
Roppongi, Tokyo in March 2007. The center is headed by Issey Miyake and
four other Japanese designers, and operated by The Miyake Issey Foundation.
The Miyake Issey Foundation, founded in Tokyo in 2004, operates the 21_21 Design
Sight center, organizes exhibitions and events, and publishes literature.
Perfumes Like many fashion designers, Issey
Miyake also has a line of perfumes. His first fragrance, the light
aquatic-floral L'eau d'Issey for women, was launched in 1992. The name L'eau
d'Issey is a pun. In French, it sounds identical to "l'odyssée".The bottle,
designed by Miyake himself, is based on the view of the moon behind the Eiffel
Tower from his Paris apartment. The scent was followed by L'eau d'Issey
Pour Homme in 1994. L'eau Bleue d'Issey Pour Homme was introduced in 2004; and
its evolution, L'eau Bleue d'Issey Eau Fraiche was introduced in 2006. Every
year since 2007, Issey Miyake has brought out a "limited time only"
fragrance for ladies in which he brings in a "guest" perfumer. In 2007, he
launched 'Drop on a Petal', and in 2008 he launched 'Reflections in a Drop'. A
new Issey Miyake men's fragrance, L'eau d'Issey Pour Homme Intense, was
introduced at Nordstrom in the United States in June 2007, with a larger
worldwide rollout following in September 2007. Issey Miyake fragrances are
produced under a long-term agreement by the Beauté Prestige International
division of Shiseido, who also produces fragrances for Narciso Rodriguez, Elie
Saab, and Jean-Paul Gaultier. Awards
Miyake won the Arts and Philosophy Kyoto Prize in 2006.
In 2005, he was awarded the Praemium Imperiale for Sculpture.
Order of Culture, 2010 XXIII Premio Compasso d'Oro ADI, 2014,
for family of lamps IN-EI Issey Miyake, Artemide.
References External links
Issey Miyake - official website ELTOTOB TEP Issey Miyake web site
Issey Miyake Watches web site Issey Miyake Parfums web site
Issey Miyake TribeCa store web site Pleats Please Issey Miyake web site
Pleats Please online store by Issey Miyake USA Corp.
Issey Miyake at the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain
Exhibition including Miyake's work at the Cincinnati Art Museum
Art Directors Club biography, portrait and images of work
'A Flash of Memory' New York Times Op-Ed