My chief endeavour is the operation of Morioka Books. To be specific, the shop sells a single book that changes each week, and holds exhibitions related to this volume in the meantime. For the last year or so I’ve been spending less time in the store as my outside work increases. I’ve been involved in various projects such as curating the Yamagata Biennale, taking part in the planning committee for the Shiseido Gallery, doing the show windows for Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi, and directing the bookshelves at Tokyu Hotels.

Most recently I am producing the shirts and cardigans for bookstore staff alongside Across the Vintage. In general, the majority of my work is related to books, with the fulfilment I feel when what was once a bunch of meetings and ideas gradually becomes reality. It’s a great pleasure to have people who have seen my handiwork at Morioka Books or read things I’ve written approach with projects I had never even imagined.

I think that in the good sense of the words I don’t have on or off time. It’s like my breaks are an extension of my work. People often ask me when I take time off, but, and I hope this doesn’t sound misleading, I don’t really feel like I’m taking time off so much as just having fun all the time. One example is how I run the online salon “Morioka Institute for General Research” and try to meet the members once a month. We communicate back and forth a lot online, and many of the members are interesting folks doing all sorts of interesting things like starting their own curry restaurants or making books full of essays. I find coming up with various projects with these kinds of folks and working to make them a reality to be fun.

I’m drawn to items that fill me with anticipation about their state when placed in a certain space, what sort of developments they will bring. There’s a book by Toshiyuki Horie by the name of Mono no Hazumi that really hit home with me. It speaks of things such as “valuing the story behind an object more than the object itself”, which I feel taught me why I’m so fascinated by old books and antiques. When I consider it another way, it has always been the story behind the products that I considered important. Encountering an item is like meeting a person – regardless of whether the meeting was happenstance, it’s interesting to see where the story goes next.

Back when my bookstore was still in Kayabacho, I had customer by the name of Soushi Tanaka, who is a photographer now but at that time worked at “British Made”, a total import agent for Glenroyal. He later came to me with a project to produce some Glenroyal leather goods. That was how I became acquainted with the brand. Their craftsmanship is truly solid, which shows in how I’m still using these projects as much as ever four years later.

Bridle leather is hardy, so I don’t have anything to worry about even if I throw these items in my bag roughly. They have gained more character as they aged, something which has had the combined effect of making me more attached to them as items that are truly my own as well as more confident about using them during meetings. I also get a sense of story from them as products made in the UK, which is the point of origin for so many different things.

When I received the request to put “the UK” as I think of it into the products, I decided that I didn’t want the designs to be too fashionable. The premise was that these would be items one could use for a long time, which made me wonder what would constitute an enduring story for them. There is a British philosopher named Bertrand Russell who wrote in the preface of one of his books that “the world is composed of dualities”. Some examples of this would be good and evil, or maybe beauty and ugliness, but either way I just really like his take on the world. Maybe it’s clichéd, but I chose the colour scheme of the leather and stitching with relationship between light and darkness in mind, like the moon in the night sky. This goes for the appeal of the product itself, but the background aspects really are crucial in my opinion. I’m very fond of this wallet and notebook because they have a story I want to tell to others.