投稿者: hikaru

Have you ever gazed up at the night sky and felt that millions of stars are falling towards you? During a storm, have you ever wondered at the energy of the thunder and lightning? Or looked out at the quiet, gentle falling of snow on a moonlit winter’s night?

Thoughts about the sky, stars, lightning and snow were the inspiration for my latest collection. My challenge was to express those thoughts using yarn and knitted and woven textures. No doubt, my customers and fans of my work will tell me whether I have met that challenge.

People often ask me if my products are hand made. Some of them are, but the majority are HAND CRAFTED, which I define as being made using hand operated machines. For some years, I have been working with small family run textile manufacturers who still regard the manufacturing process as a craft and who have great experience and knowledge of their machines, the techniques of which the machines are capable and the hand finishing of products. They cannot mass produce products like the mega-manufacturers, but they and I believe that what is important is producing small quantities of beautiful things.

Earlier this year I moved my studio from London to rural Wales. I have been working with local traditional Welsh weaving factories for several years to create original fabrics for my collection, and I am pleased to be closer to them now. All my products are can now be washed by hand at home, rather than dry cleaned, which gives them a better feel as well as being better for the environment.

雷や嵐も不安な気持ちのどこかに、いったいどこまで激しくなるのか！ いつまで続くのか！ 怖いもの見たさか、おさまらないで欲しいほのかな期待があったり。雪の降り始めはとってもとても静か。雪の夜は闇と無数の雪に吸い込まれなそうくらいロマンティック。なのに溶ける雪の風景はびちゃびちゃとちょっと汚らしく寂しいもの。

空が落ちてくるのではないか！？という不安にかられるほどの満天に広がる星空を、最近見ましたか? そんな雷、嵐、雪に雲、星なんかをグラフィカルに表現したり、空が繰り広げるいろんな出来事を感じながら糸や編地のテクスチュアで表現してみました。

素材選びと生産工程：
ハンドメイド？？？　いいえ。hikaru noguchiの商品は厳密には’手作り’ではありません。最高級品をプライドをもって作り続けているような小規模の家族経営の工場で作られています。それらの工場と限られた素材と技術や経験、職人のカンと私のアイディアを駆使し、試作を重ねてコレクションは出来上がります。

実際の生産は電気、コンピューター仕掛けの編み機に織り機や、人力の編み機ですが、細かい準備に調整、仕上げの工程は全て熟練職人による手仕事です。大規模工場の様に大量生産はできませんが、必要な数分の材料を必要な数だけの商品に丁寧に作り上げてゆくことが大切だと思っています。

スタジオをロンドンからウェールズに移し、よりいっそう産地力が際立つオリジナルのウェールズツイードやフランネルを使った商品は、優しさと力強さが魅力。産地力で言えば、商品の多くはスコットランド産の糸を使い、仕上げも良質な水が自慢のスコットランドで行っています。ビックリするくらい仕上がりに違いがでるんです。

また、hikaru noguchiの商品は自宅で手洗いが出来ます。良質のウール製品はぬるま湯で優しく洗ったほうがドライクリーニングより汚れも落ちるし、環境にもいい。なによりもふんわりとした仕上がりが嬉しいですね。

The inspiration for the collection came from my travels around northern Britain and Ireland last winter, often in thick fog and feeling gusts of wind on my face. I visited remote rural places where local people still use old knitting patterns and do traditional needlework. I tried to feel and understand something about the lives of these people by standing on the steep stone steps leading up the cliff by a fishing village, feeling the texture of moss and seaweed, handling lobster baskets, gazing at windswept treeless islands and colour of the sky over the cold North Sea.

I tried desperately to capture and share feelings and emotions of the people whose ancestors first made those beautiful traditional knitting and needlework patterns. Then I used the emotions that I had felt in order to design my new collection.

The collection is inspired by the environment in which traditional knitting and needlework have been created but it is not reproduction or neo-traditional. It tries to capture some of the romance and the history of fishermen’s wives knitting for their families, as well as the history of knitting as a cottage industry. Many of the women I visited still knit jumpers, and sew garments for their families as well as helping themselves to earn some income. I hope to have captured some of their determination, passion and skill in my designs.

The majority of my products are made for me by a small family-run factories and individual knitters, all of whom are proud their skills and have a passion for knitting production. I hope that my customers will enjoy wearing my products as much as we have enjoyed creating them.

霧深く、強い風が吹く英国北部とアイルランドを旅しました。
訪れた場所の多くは有名な編み物の模様を生み出したり、針仕事の歴史を持つところ。けわしい崖の小さな漁村の長い長い石階段、苔、波に流された海草の山、港に重なるロブスター用のバスケット、木が生えない島、時間と共に変化する空と北海の色。

そんな風景を見ながら今や伝統として語り継がれる昔の人々が生活から生み出した針仕事の情熱の足跡を感じるコレクションを創りたくなりました。

伝統的なものの再生でもなく、懐古主義でもありません。多くの伝統手芸には、例えば漁夫の妻が安全を祈って編まれた、というようなロマンティックな話があります。同時にそういう技は貧しい生活をささえるうちに女性たちの内職として産業の一部として認知されていました。そういうごく普通の女性たちの針と糸への静かな情熱は、後に工業化されていく編み物産業やファッションの流行の基礎となる様々な技術や模様はもちろんのこと、編み物の最大の魅力である’暖かさ’の原点でもあります。

Hikaru Noguchiの商品の多くは、ごく少人数が様々な工程に携わり、経験からの技や手の勘が生きる、編み物生産への情熱があふれる家族経営の小規模工場や家庭内職さんたちによって作られています。そんな背景の持つ暖かさが皆さんに伝わりますように。

These baby blankets are beautifully knitted or woven by expert craftspeople working with the softest lamb’s wool, or a mixture of soft lamb’s wool and cotton. The care we put into their production, and the quality of our materials means that not only will your baby be warm and cosy, but the blanket will age beautifully to be passed on to the next baby – or the next generation! Although we call them ‘baby blankets’ they are big enough to use as an extra blanket for a child’s bed or even as a throw on the sofa.

The designer, Hikaru Noguchi, has two young children, and designs using her own experience as a mother. She hopes to share with others the pleasure she had in cuddling her own babies in beautiful blankets.
Whole Collection / 全コレクション

The Cowichan people, who are natives of British Columbia in Canada, and the people of the Scottish highlands have both given me inspiration for my latest collection. Both groups of people live their lives surrounded by wild nature – forests, rivers and wild animals, as well as their livestock.
Their lives are quiet and uneventful by big-city standards. But these people are strong, hard-working and have a sense of community and belonging of which city-dwellers can only dream.

And on a few special occasions during the year, they sing and dance all day and night with music and high spitits,,,,,,,,,,,,, This is the image that inspired my Autumn and Winter collection 2009-10. I have concentrated on producing updated versions of traditional patterns, in colours that work for the latest season.

From the Cowichan, I took inspiration for my deer and river pattern scarves and gloves. From the Scots, I took inspiration for my fairisle and tartan check scarves. And from hardworking rural people everywhere, I took inspiration for the other shawls, scarves and gloves in the collection.

As usual, the items in my collection are designed to be worn equally comfortably by men and women.

The collection is made from the best quality Australian Merino lambswool which has a very soft, sheen and body. The yarn is spun in Scotland and Italy.

森と大地で厳しい自然と立ち向かいながら、野生動物や家畜と共生するカナダ西海岸のネイティブインディアンのカウチン族や、スコットランドのハイランドで暮らすゲーリック人々。静かだけど、荒々しくもあり力強い。汗や土埃にまみれながら働く人々と支える家族たち。祝宴では酒とともに歌い踊る、、、、そんな風景を思い浮かべならが生まれたコレクションです。

労働者のつなぎの首元に巻かれる小ぶりのスカーフやカウチンセーターの定番模様であるトナカイや川模様。森の木や葉をアレンジした美しいフェアアイル模様、羊飼いの少年が無造作に巻くショール。

hikaru noguchiのコレクションは、女性だけでなく、良質な日常着を愛する男性に根強い人気があります。懐かしい雰囲気の伝統柄を活かした模様や編地に深い色合いのマフラーは着る人を優しい気持ちにさせてくれます。

素材の多くは、オーストラリア原産のフワフワと柔らかいながら、適度な弾力がある艶やかなメリノウール。長年の技術を誇るイタリアや英国の紡績工場がメリノウールの中でも最高ランクの繊維を美しい糸に変身させます。

暖かい空気を閉じ込めながらも通気性を保つ繊維はウールならでは。長年着ていても変わることなく、柔らかく暖か。首さわりの優しさと着心地を大切にしています。