"Encounter" has the connotation of meeting someone unexpected. For the second installment of FASHION HEADLINE's ENcounter project, we visited Chiba Matsue, who practiced "Shoai Hiyashizome," Japan's oldest indigo dyeing method, in Kurihara City, Miyagi Prefecture.

I'm Shigematsu from our editorial team. I've been interested in color and dyeing since I was a child, and when I visited Okinawa on a school trip, I was a high school girl who would collect bingata catalogs... (Incidentally, I even took photos at my Coming of Age ceremony wearing a bingata-style kimono.)

I was fortunate to be able to see up close how dyeing and weaving are passed down and created. Furthermore, I had the opportunity to share the lives of the creators and the feelings engraved in their words. I'm so blessed I wish I could meet my younger self and share them with her.

Well, just like when I interviewed Yamashita Fumiko and Homare, who run the Kihachijo Meyu Koubou on Hachijojima during my summer visit, I also had the opportunity to meet with the people from Hosoo, a long-established Nishijin weaver in Kyoto founded in 1688.

Now, from here on, we'll be bringing you a double talk between Hosoo's Masataka Hosoo (hereafter referred to as H) and Shigematsu from our editorial department (hereafter referred to as S)!

S:Wow, following on from the Kihachijo we visited last time on Hachijojima, the "Seiai Reizome" dyeing by Chiba Matsue in Kurihara City, Miyagi Prefecture, which we visited this time, was also beautiful.

H:Somehow, there were similarities between the two.

S:How can I put it, perhaps a sense of tolerance... I felt a sense of integrity in living, accepting both the blessings and harshness of nature as they are.

H:Recently, on a business trip to France, I had the opportunity to visit the Cartier workshop. At Cartier's workshop, artisans are highly valued, and they work with pride. This is something that is shared by Baccarat and Hermès, and it made a lasting impression on me.

S:That's true. What kind of environment is necessary for artisans, both in Japan and around the world, to work with pride?

H:First of all, it's important to have a market where you can earn money. And because artisanship is a very creative job, it's also important to have an environment where they can express their creativity.

S:Indeed, when you see the skills and sensibilities of the artisans with your own eyes, they are truly delicate and full of creativity.

H:For example, at Cartier, artisans have their own rooms for each process. The stone-setting craftsmen's rooms are completely soundproof, allowing them to focus on their hands while setting stones.

S:They really value their artisans, don't they? That's why successors who want to become artisans like them emerge and pass on their skills.

H:In fact, I've met a family at Cartier where three generations have been artisans.

S:That's wonderful. I fantasize about how wonderful it would be if the skills that artisans have passed down through trial and error could be used in a variety of ways in our lives now and in the future.

H:I'd like to continue visiting and meeting the people who are preserving the wonderful dyeing and weaving techniques from all over Japan and creating new works.

And so, at FASHION HEADLINE "ENcounter," we travel all over Japan in search of wonderful encounters, and we'd like to share the stories we come across along the way.

In our next installment, we'll be introducing the workshop of Tanaka Hirofumi, who is carrying on the tradition of Yumihama Kasuri in Yonago City, Tottori Prefecture, as well as Sakaiminato City's efforts to cultivate the Japanese cotton "Hakushu Cotton" that is used to make Yumihama Kasuri!