niime 百科

Encyclopedia of niime

Opening a new year, 2025: Happy New Year to everyone!
Please continue to read the ‘Encyclopedia of niime’ this year.

〈continued from ‘the year-out version’〉

Sakai: Even though I think about it deeply, there’s a limit to what I can do by myself. Even though I decide to do it this way in 2025, it may yield completely different results.

— Yeah, it could happen.

Sakai: It could certainly happen.

— You may think that it was different from what you wished for at the beginning of the year, but it ended up better.

Sakai: That’s right. It could happen a lot. That’s why I want to be more flexible …

Tamaki: Besides what you think about it, please let us hear what you want to do for ‘tamaki niime’ this year, Mr Sakai.

Sakai: I think ‘tamaki niime’, including all the staff, should be the same way. Flexibility and freedom have an invisible tolerance. I believe that each of us needs to develop self-discipline. In the year 2025, all we need to do is recognise and think about the things with a sense of tension, and take action. I think we need to do this this year.

—It’s up to each person, right?

Sakai: How you discipline yourself is up to each person. It’s not necessary to push yourself to death, but it is good if you are strict with yourself, including me.

— Mr Sakai, you are the person who does it explosively when you need to do it in an emergency, right?

Sakai: Yeah. (laugh)

— But, if you are always relaxed, you absolutely can’t do it. I feel that because you always discipline yourself, that’s why you can do it.

Tamaki: There’s no intermediate state in himself.

— (laugh)

Tamaki: He is either sleeping or doing. As soon as he finishes the action, he deflates.

— That’s Mr Sakai’s way of disciplining himself. He has excessive energy consumption while he is awake.

Sakai: But sleeping is essential. In 2025, my body is a valuable resource.

— I see. You sleep to store your energy.

Sakai: Our staff must be more diligent in earning money in 2025.

Tamaki: Well, living is earning, and earning is living.

Sakai: They have no interest in income.

Tamaki: They are not only interested in income, but also in money.

Sakai: That’s right, they have no interest in money, and they need to remind themselves that they need speed in the year 2025. I think speed is essential, which is the main thing, whatever we do, especially in ‘tamaki niime’.

— In ‘Earning’ and ‘Speed’, earning doesn’t mean only selling. At the place of selling, do you mean that each staff member needs to have the will to discipline themselves?

Sakai: If you have a goal of ‘earning’, you can’t earn if you don’t level up what you’re working on or communicating with others.

— In making products, if you raise the quality of work and add value, sales would inevitably be up. To achieve that, the motivation for earning money is…

Sakai: It’s definitely needed.

Tamaki: Specifically, our company does everything in-house, from manufacturing to selling, as a single unit. Creating products isn’t the end of the work; we are responsible for them until they are sold, which you should keep in mind.

Sakai: Yeah.

Tamaki: It has no meaning for manufacturing if products can’t be sold. It’s not just that we deliver the products; someone orders and makes them. We are responsible for manufacturing and providing products you create till they are in the customer’s hands.

— Yes.

Tamaki: Actually, we don’t have to work at selling, but we need to be conscious of selling to make products and make motives of cycles for creating again. It’s irresponsible to show no concern after that. Just as you think of your children, you must also think of them further.

Sakai: I don’t know if I thought of that or not, but I was seeing customers taking the products that Tamaki made and being happy, which gives me the motivation to do good work for the next project.

Tamaki: That’s how you have been encouraged for the next job.

Sakai: Not only two of us, but also ‘tamaki niime’ all need to be back to the basics. Not only that, but you also need to think about the customers who take our products into their hands, imagining how impressed they are and what their facial expressions are like.

Tamaki: Making money is not a matter of being good or bad; it is obviously a common act, but we feel disgusted about it. We have an image that money is dirty. I don’t think that making a lot of money is a virtue, but because of making money, we can invest in the next project that produces something new and make it possible to continue doing so. We cannot separate earning and living. Without running away from that, I think we need to face the reality.

Sakai: That’s the weak point of Japan.

Tamaki: In our consciousness, we should have that in mind when we have customer service to sell things.

Sakai: Without making some money, people in America can’t go to see doctors.

Sakai: After all, we can’t live without making money.

Sakai: The Japanese society supports us well because our tension fades away, but when we compare it with outside Japan, I wonder how it is.

Tamaki: In American society, the people who make more money can survive in society, but in Japan, it doesn’t matter if we earn more or less. It’s an advantage in Japan that people who don’t earn much can still make a living.

Sakai: I don’t mean that the people making money are greater.

Tamaki: It’s important to make money, but I don’t think the people making more money are better.

Sakai: If we focus five times more of our consciousness on making money, we will profit from it and it will be reimbursed on the ‘tamaki niime’ business and be invested in cycling.

Tamaki: In my mind, it is not ‘making money or not’, because ‘manufacturing and selling’ is the origin and obvious. Generally, the phrase “making money” evokes a sense of disgust, which often implies making a substantial amount of money. But it doesn’t mean it.

Sakai: I mean to work, keeping in mind the possibility of selling. Because we want customers to be happy with our products, a creator and a seller have battles just like Tamaki and me. If we work for it, we will not sell products made half-heartedly.

Tamaki: So the staff can do things like us.

Sakai: That ends up making money.

Tamaki: That’s it.

Sakai: So, our staff no longer have such an intention. Even though they are not sellers, they need to think of the possibilities of selling. Think of how sellers think. And sellers need to inform creators about the types of products that can be sold, as they must perform well.

— It’s like playing catch-ball or battle.

Tamaki: What bothers me when talking with our staff is that they depend too much on the customer’s needs. For example, a customer wishes to have a pocket because it is convenient, and our staff wants to accommodate this request. But it damages the design of creation.

— Hmm.

Tamaki: We initially tried to create a beautiful product, which is why we removed the pocket. If we put the pocket in because the customer wants it, our creativity would be destroyed.

— Surely the balance of the product is lost.

Tamaki: So, even though there’s a request, think back and don’t misjudge it. It’s essential to keep it because the beauty of the design would be lost.

— You don’t welcome all requests.

Tamaki: As creators, we would rather not respond to all their needs, but we have to create an ‘invention’ that amazes them. It is good to know their needs, but you can’t respond to all the requests; you have to consider the creation process when accepting their needs.

— As a creator, it is important how do you refine customers’ needs for your products? Right?

Tamaki: If we don’t develop workers who can do such things, we couldn’t make products that we are very proud of, ‘tamaki niime’, and the things that make customers want to hand down to their grandchildren to keep using for 50 or 100 years when they get older. I want to grow people who want to be on that idea.

Sakai: As a result of the persistence of what you believe in, what you get must be huge for you. We want my staff to work with a belief in 2025, right?

Tamaki: I am looking forward to it.

— Specifically, in what you are working towards, realising your goal, do you have one that you can announce to us on this New Year’s Day?

Tamaki: The ‘Niime Residence’ is going to open.

— Finally!

Tamaki: It is the renovated Old Okazawa residence.

Tamaki: The Niime Residence will open before the Osaka Kansai Expo, and we will also have a shared house in the Shima district, where the expo will be held. I want everyone to enjoy staying in Nishiwaki.

— It is possible to stay here for 3 days with 2 nights to enjoy’ tamaki niime’ every day.

Tamaki: They could enjoy even experiencing us. I hope our current business partners stay and relax, spending time together till nightfall with us.

— How do you use the Niime Residence?

Tamaki: I am thinking of using it as a regular house, just like Mr Kunnro Okazawa lived, where many people gathered and chatted. I want this house to be like that. I have the same image of ‘589’, the first Shop & Lab of ‘tamaki niime’. When I lived there, I was making things little by little, remember? I am thinking about new developments while staying at the Niime Residence, which used to be an Okazawa residence.

— Ms Tamaki, is that your personal approach?

Tamaki: I am going to introduce new products made from animal fur. I want Sakai to be a store manager there.

— At the Niime Residence?

Tamaki: At the old store ‘589’, one side was an atelier, and the other side was a store, right? I was at the atelier, and Hatsuko and Sakai were at the store. At the back space of the Niime Residence, it is planned to have a space where I can make things, and a cafe in front of it. I want people to come to chat and have the store manager, Sakai, sell many things.

— That sounds interesting.

Sakai: I won’t try to sell, but people just buy the products.

— You can’t place the power loom, right?

Tamaki: We can’t place the power machinery there, so we use our hands steadily. I wish it were possible to repair the parts of an old machine called the Swivel Loom of Banshu ori, which is capable of weaving embroidery-like patterns. It’s challenging to operate the machine, but it’s nice to revert to its original appearance.

— It’s good to display it.

Tamaki: There are many such things that I want to do, but haven’t done yet. So I am planning to try them with new developments one by one. I just do it by myself, so everyone can come to see it freely. When we were at ‘589’, people could see me and Sakai freely, but now they can’t see us.

— I see.

Tamaki: Even though it’s not every day to go to the Niime Residence, Sakai and I will be there to do something. When our customers come in casually, I think there’s a chance of different encounters for us.

— It’s good that they come in casually.

Tamaki: The reason I thought about it was because we expanded from the on-site when we met with new staff to work, or we dealt with new things. It was not that we went out on business, but there were many cases where we found the people who came here interesting, and we decided to do it together. However, we can’t do it now because we can’t meet them without making appointments. So I hope I can meet them naturally.

Sakai: Yeah.

Tamaki: (Looking at Sakai) He is the ‘seller’. It’s a shame not to use his talent.

— To have a place to meet people frankly.

Tamaki: That’s right. He can meet people to start a revolution. If he stays inside here, he Won’t be able to meet people.

— They can’t see Mr Sakai’s real existence.

Tamaki: Right. If someone interesting comes in, I want to make it an excellent encounter.

— That returns to the basics as well.

Tamaki: Yeah, yeah.

— And at the Japanese space of the Niime Residence, I am looking forward to seeing that ‘tamaki niime’ products may show different appearances. As for space, would you tell me about the Kamakura store, ‘okurimon’?

Tamaki: Since opening April last year, we had only used the first floor, and we struggled to raise our brand recognition. However, we began using the second floor in October, which allowed us to display a broader range of products. By doing so, the number of customers increased. I have the impression that the store became more stable.

— I see.

Tamaki: It was our new challenge as well. For example, we could find a creative building in the Machida store where people can enjoy the building as well as our products. Compared to this, we couldn’t see the goal of what kind of space we created for ‘okurimon’, but we opened it anyway. So it was the first challenge.

— I went there and felt that space where you can’t tell by SNS or half-baked photos, but you only need experience to be there.

Tamaki: It is similar to the situation of when you are in the vastness of nature and try to take a picture, but you have to stop your hands because it is too small on the screen. Because you can never truly appreciate the beauty of the store unless you see it in reality. It’s a miracle. ‘Okurimon’ is the new store in Kamakura that shows freely new expressions of ‘tamaki niime’ latest products. The second floor was created as a separate space from the first floor following a serious altercation. I felt it was the place where a high level of creations on both floors competed and attracted each other.

— In developing new stores, their relationships are important, right?

Tamaki: Yes, their relationships are important.

— It is completely opposed to similar stores that keep expanding on their way.

Tamaki: I think that spending time together in the same space is important. Under the same roof, because of the creators of each other, creators, sellers, and customers all face each other. I absolutely believe they understand each other because of sharing feelings through their five senses, not just with words. Even though there’s a distance between Kamakura and here, I hope they can connect with each other.

Sakai: That’s the difference between creator groups like ‘tamaki niime’ and large business companies. We are not expanding our stores extensively, but just like creating, you need to have spirit. There must be something you put in your hearts.

— That means, a pair of Shop & Labs is…

Tamaki: That is our basis, which is meaningful.

— One exciting thing is that all products of ‘tamaki niime’, such as ones at Machida or ‘okurimon’, each show different attractive expressions. Alternatively, you could say that there are ways in which they bring out different charms.

Tamaki: That’s right. Depending on their situations, they change.

— When the products are placed in the Japanese space of the Niime Residence, I wonder how they shine to us. I am looking forward to it even now.

Tamaki: It takes a lot of work (laugh), but it’s more creative and engaging than creating similar places. Other than that, what we need is to encounter. If we have the chance to meet, we could develop it.

— That’s the one you are thorough about. Word of mouth works. It makes it possible to develop abroad.

Sakai: Not being thorough, though. She just can’t persuade herself that she doesn’t do it.

Tamaki: Hehehe. Is that right?

Sakai: It doesn’t mean that she has to stick to this way. She just doesn’t feel well if she Doesn’t do it. That’s all. She had never considered that she had to do it this way.

Tamaki: We end up doing this as a result, because we don’t want to develop our work eagerly. In particular, for making money, we don’t want to make a lot, but we instead want to create or repeat new experiments. If that experiment place looks interesting, I would grab it. (laugh)

— Your dream of reaching out to the products of ‘tamaki niime’ to all of Japan, and to the world, doesn’t mean the number and quantity.

Sakai: No, no.

Tamaki: We want to take them to many places. It’s not a matter of making money.

— However, when sharing your products all over the world, just like spreading roots, you will find that the world will change.

Sakai: Aha, that would be wonderful.

Tamaki: Awareness-raising activities.

— That’s a niime style approach, which may be unconventional.

Sakai: Yeah.

Tamaki: Exactly.

— Meeting with new people, where and how the products of ‘tamaki niime’ will be heading. It’s unpredictably interesting.

Tamaki: Interesting. All or nothing. I will do it. I am looking forward to it from now on.

— Come to think of it, not only in Kamakura, I have often seen the word ‘okurimon’ on ‘tamaki niime’ online shops.

Tamaki: I originally made the shawls as gifts, such as for Mother’s Day. But I felt that calling it gifts sounds shallow.

— As a word.

Tamaki: I want people to use it as a gift, but I wanted to have something mischievous that I always like. (laugh) I didn’t want to call gift wrapping. When I looked for a name that shocked people but they understood, I came up with the word ‘moraimon’ (given gifts) in the Banshu dialect.

— The local Banshu dialect was a hint…

Tamaki: Then the name was decided to be called ‘okurimon’ (sending gifts), which sounds warm and friendly.

After 20 years of adventures and experiments, ‘tamaki niime’ looks ahead to the next stage and has their ambitions in returning to the basics.

The Shop & Lab. Creators, sellers, and customers interact with each other and the products under one roof, and at that place, warm, special new products are born every day.

The ‘Niime Residence’ will open this year. Tamaki and Sakai will be the centre of this house, where it will become an experimental, fun socialising place, which is simple and direct.

Leading by a highly natural way of ‘working with five senses abundantly’, what kind of unknown adventures are waiting for them on a new voyage?

We can’t take our eyes off ‘tamaki niime’ in 2025 again.

Original Japanese text by Seiji Koshikawa.
English translation by Adam & Michiko Whipple.