Tell us more about your job and hobby.
While being a child, I spent all my time drawing dresses. And while growing older, all my interests were dedicated to all sorts of arts, especially couture and historical fashion. After school, I’ve studied fashion design in college. Starting a brand was my childhood dream and while I was studying, my partner, Elisabeth, finally gave me the courage and inspired me to start it. This is how Kaneko was born.
Describe your workplace, how is everything placed?
Nothing pretty, actually, just a chaotic mess. Right now we almost don’t have any place to work in our apartment and store all our items in boxes to keep them safe from cats. But hopefully, we will have a much more spacious workshop very soon!
How did an idea about starting a brand come?
As I said before, it was my childhood dream. Besides, we just didn’t know what else to do. We needed to work somewhere while I was still studying, and I didn’t know what I can do except designing things at that moment. That’s why we started with headwear and accessories because it didn’t require much investment. After slowly growing, we added a few clothing items, and last year we fully concentrated on clothes.
As for the brand name, I am half Japanese and half Russian. So after Elisabeth and I married, we decide to simply use our surname as a brand name.
What inspires you? Where do you find ideas for new projects?
Historical costumes of various cultures and time periods are one of our biggest passions, and we take lots of inspiration from historical garments while designing the cut and choosing fabrics for our garments. As for making prints, we are searching for various vintage illustrations or works of art available in the public domain or collaborating with modern artists to make a unique pattern.
Does the tailor need a dress form?
Of course! It’s impossible to design a well-fitting garment without a high-quality mannequin.
How did you find out about Royal Dress forms and which dress form do you have?
Royal Dress forms is considered as one of the best Russian mannequin manufacturer, so I found out about these mannequins when I was studying in college and wanted to buy a «Monica» mannequin with a floral pattern ever since. We bought it when we started making clothing.
How does our dress form help you during work?
We need to take photos of our items on the mannequin, and «Monica» with floral pattern looks very catchy and fits into our aesthetic perfectly. I think it has already become a part of the brand’s style, and I can’t imagine taking photos on any other mannequin. However, we hope to buy some more Royal Dress forms mannequins in other sizes, whenever we have a place to store them.
Our clothing constructor and seamstress uses her Royal Dress forms mannequin too to see how the garment fits while making patterns.
What plans and aims do you have for this year?
Our biggest plan for this year is to rent a store and showroom and make a renovation in it. This will allow us much more possibilities to take photos of the items and pack orders, improving the quality of our work.