THE HAPPENINGS

issue No.28 features Hiroki Nakamura, the creative director and driving force behind the brand Visvim. We were looking for the right title claim or headline that could properly encompass the entire issue, but yet also suit the title story with Hiroki. I recently received a pack of well-made Visvim catalogues and found myself deeply impressed, not only because I could not find an item I did not like, but also because I stumbled over the words ‘Dissertation on the Future Relationship Between Materials and Technologies in Product Fundamentalism Vol.2.’

I knew the brand’s output before and had seen their stuff in pictures, but also worn by a handful good people whose knowledge about street-related brands goes beyond average. It’s a hard-to-find brand and most of the people you see wearing it do so with an air of pride, which reminds me of the roots of streetwear. The days where subtle hints on a clothing product lead to a conversation between likeminded people, right on the streets having only just seen each other for the first time. I don’t think it’s a sort of dress code like Mods, Teds, Punks or other cultures have, no, it is more the style of the product itself without screaming it aloud. And that’s exactly what Mr. Hiroki Nakamura is aiming towards, not the fashion or the image of his label, it’s just the product, like he says, “Everywhere I go, I always look for something interesting for the product.” Concerning his products, his clothes, Hiroki is a fundamentalist in the true and positive sense of the word. The term fundamentalism nowadays has, for the most part, a negative connotation. People put it on a level with religious or right-wing fanaticism, but it is in the broadest sense of the term that fundamentalism adds a philosophy of life and such movement to it, a movement that claims its reflection in the roots of ideologies, even by using radical and extraordinary ways. Hiroki’s radicalism is composed of a love and meticulousness in regards to the quality basic materials, the workmanship, and above all, to the design, the idea behind the product. It has nothing to do with religion. It is a worship of the materials and the processing. This is something that other producers should share, ‘cause there are a lot, respectively, way too many products out there that just have no reason to exist. There are products that make it to the consumers with a quality so low that you have to throw it away after two uses. In times of shortage in raw materials, and above all, water, clothes shouldn’t be just disposable articles. You should be proud to have this or that piece of clothing, not think about throwing it away after wearing it a few times. Real products are those that show your special tastes, your personality, and for sure, a long-lasting quality. A pair of 14 oz denim pants that becomes almost like a second skin after wearing it for years. Same with your beloved shoes and jackets, quality garments that survived and and won’t go out of style, but instead show the signs of time and scars of life, like the lines in your face.