In Yokogawa, an old quarter of Hiroshima, a three-story townhouse has been given a second life. Its rooms — renovated, yet still holding the grain of the old building — are where Karin Noda works, under the name Yokogawa Guild. Born in Hatsukaichi, she trained in ceramics and later wrote essays before she arrived at the material that would hold her: cloth. A kimono long asleep at the back of a drawer becomes a bag, becomes a coat, and once again passes its days in someone’s hands.

Story Wear

Re:ADY B, the brand of SETOUCHI MIRAI DESIGN Inc., where Noda is representative director, calls this idea Story Wear. You wear the remade cloth together with all the time it has already carried, and because every kimono and obi is different, no two pieces are ever the same. Her ambition, though, reaches further than reuse. She means to change how the kimono itself is seen — to bring it out of the drawer and the formal occasion, past the old rules about who may wear what, and back into ordinary life, carried and used and lived with.

The Hands Behind the Cloth

The makers, too, are part of the cloth, in places that go unseen. The sewing, and the unpicking of each kimono thread by thread, are carried out across eleven Type B employment-support workshops in Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima, Mihara and Fukuyama. Regardless of disability or gender, fair pay is given for the work done — the one thing Noda has refused to give up. Among the core members who sustain the brand are women raising children. A garment, in her hands, becomes a way for work itself to be shared more fairly.

A Craft You Can Carry

The MIKOSHI Series is emblematic. Its handles are made with the chasing techniques handed down in the kazari metalwork of Hiroshima butsudan, the traditional Buddhist altars of the region. Created with the long-established Yoshida Butsudan Kanagu Seisakusho, the brass fittings are meant to be polished and cared for by their owner; as they age, they can be taken off, re-polished, and brought back to shine. A traditional Japanese craft you can carry with you. The MIKOSHI Bag received a Gold award at the London Design Awards 2026 — the first time a Japanese company had been chosen in its category. The same thinking runs through the rest of the work: obi remade into clutch bags that can be worn eight ways or more, card cases, jackets and long coats cut from inherited kimono, each one unrepeatable.

The Building, and What Comes Next

Yokogawa Guild is more than a workshop. The old townhouse now holds several small ventures under one roof, and Noda plans to open its ground floor as a shop, so that the pieces can be met in the same place they are made. Her work has been taken up by national programs for founders and carried abroad, but its center of gravity stays here — in a building that, like the cloth she remakes, has been given another life.

Whether You Will or Will Not

The company’s philosophy is to create design that changes lives. Noda’s own motto is quiet and clear: not whether you can or cannot, but whether you will or will not.
In a single piece of cloth, the time of those who wove it, wore it, and let it go has quietly gathered. Karin Noda’s work keeps that time from being thrown away. For the things thought to have outlived their purpose, and for the hands long overlooked, she makes a place to belong. In the cloth, there are people.

Where to Find Re:ADY B

Online store: readyb.store
Instagram: @ethical_ready.b
SETOUCHI MIRAI DESIGN Inc.: sfdesign.co.jp
Photography: Mariko Akimoto / Studio Tales

A few minutes from Saint-Paul station, at 17 rue François Miron in Paris’s 4th arrondissement, a large carriage gate opens onto a courtyard. Beyond it, a gallery.
Rare Gallery Paris 4.
The sign is modest. But inside, three spaces across two floors hold paintings, photographs, sculptures — and sometimes music. Quietly, or with energy, they surround whoever enters.
The person who built this space, and keeps it running, is Wilson Claude Balda.


He calls himself a “cultural activist.”
Born in Brittany, with Ethiopian and Beninese roots, he studied in Brest and New York before turning toward something neither academic nor corporate: the living culture of Paris. He has produced and hosted television programmes on France O, France 4 and Bastille TV. He publishes a bi-monthly magazine distributed nationally. He photographs, composes, discovers musicians, and puts them on stage. At the gallery, he hangs the work of artists from Japan, China, Senegal, Morocco and Iran alongside those from France — with equal regard for each.
The breadth of what one person can carry is, at first, simply surprising.

His philosophy fits in a single sentence.
“Deprive the brain of oxygen, and it dies. Deprive it of culture — the same.”
This is not rhetoric. For him, sharing culture is not entertainment. It is something closer to keeping people alive.
Rare Gallery Paris 4 is an exhibition space, an intimate concert hall, a screening room, a place for conversation and encounter. He calls it “a laboratory for future success.” The experiment continues today.

He moves through the Marais in a Scottish kilt, recognisable from a distance.
Brittany. Ethiopia. Benin. New York. Paris — several places and cultures carried in a single body, standing on the cobblestones of Paris, holding the door open.
“If you have an idea, send a quick email. Let’s meet.”
That line on his website may be the most honest description of what this gallery is.

Photography: Mariko Akimoto

Chihiro Nakamura.She never studied under a master.

Yet from childhood, the moment a brush touched paper, something in her came alive. Year after year, works made for school assignments and summer projects were recognized with awards — not because she had been trained, but because the sensitivity was simply there, waiting.

A career in design followed. But when the time came to speak as an artist in her own voice, there was never any question of what that would look like. The brush had always been hers.

Her work today centers on something she believes deeply: that beauty should be lived with, not only admired. Kimono, scarves, bags, folding fans — she takes these objects as her canvas, bringing her calligraphy and ink painting into the fabric of daily life. Through her own brand, she is building a vision of Japanese aesthetics as something to be worn, carried, and felt — and she is ready to bring that vision to the world.

Creation, for her, is not a peaceful act. She describes it as a state of extreme tension — holding intention while remaining as close to the unconscious as possible. Like a martial artist facing an opponent, she stands before the paper with everything quiet and everything at stake. It is not enjoyable, she says. It is a reckoning.

The scale of her work has matched the depth of her commitment. At the opening of a Japanese garden in the Principality of Monaco, her pieces were met with a reverence that stayed with her — a moment of recognition across cultures that she has never forgotten. In Fukuoka, she was handed an entire floor of a newly opened hotel and asked to fill it with meaning. Across guest rooms, a restaurant, a tearoom, a lobby, and a private retreat, she completed around 40 works — not decorating a space, but giving it a soul.

She is not finished.

She wants to bring movement to her works through digital technology, and to push into new dimensions with materials beyond ink. But at the heart of everything remains the same conviction: that Japanese aesthetics belong in the flow of modern life, and that there are people everywhere, far beyond these shores, who are waiting to feel that.

The brush, for her, has never been just a tool. It has always been the most honest way she knows to be alive.

instagram: chihiro_kimono819

Text & Photography: Mariko Akimoto

A Childhood Vision That Became Reality

Yuki Nishi, a game creator based in Saitama, Japan, has been captivated by the “architecture of play” since his elementary school days. While his peers were immersed in the experience of playing, Nishi was already deconstructing the mechanics behind the screen.

This early fascination led him to produce original games during university, eventually securing a position at a major development firm. He didn’t just follow a career path; he fulfilled a childhood destiny.

The creator who translates sensation into structure.

Kamiori: A Symphony of Folding Space and Human Connection

His acclaimed work, Kamiori, a Top 10 finalist at the Google Play Indie Games Festival 2019, is more than just a puzzle game. Inspired by traditional origami, it challenges players to fold the world itself to bridge gaps and solve spatial riddles.

However, the magic of Kamiori does not rest on Nishi’s shoulders alone. The game’s seamless blend of tactile feedback, ethereal visuals, and evocative soundscapes is the result of a “creative resonance” with his long-time partners.

PHOTO:Recognition for innovation and artistic design at the 2019 Festival.

https://www.hanaji.com/kamiori

The Strength of Shared History

Nishi’s creative process is deeply intertwined with a circle of trusted collaborators—illustrators, composers, and designers—whom he has known since his student days. These are not merely contractors; they are partners who speak his creative language.

Visual & Audio Harmony: Because of their shared history, his team can translate Nishi’s abstract pursuit of “comfort” into precise brushstrokes and melodies.

Unified Vision: This bond allows for a level of artistic synchronicity that is rare in the industry, ensuring that every element of the game feels like it grew from the same seed.

The Light He Creates: Stillness and Resonance

Nishi’s “light” is not a flash of neon; it is a steady, warm glow. It is the clarity of someone who understands that “fun” is a delicate internal sensation.

When ideas stall, he does not force them. He shifts his rhythm—playing other games, reflecting in silence, or sharing a glass of wine while contemplating the future. He waits for his sensibility to align with the world again. He trusts his intuition, but he also trusts the people who help him amplify it.

Trusting the Future

His long-term dream is to establish his own brand—a sanctuary for his unique creative philosophy.

“To achieve this,” Nishi says, “I must trust my own sensibility.”

In an era increasingly defined by AI and automation, Nishi’s true value lies in his humanity—his ability to foster deep-rooted professional relationships and translate fleeting emotions into lasting play. His light is not just a spectacle to be watched; it is a presence to be felt, shaped by the hands of a creator and the hearts of the friends who walk beside him.

Text & Photography: Mariko Akimoto