SHOHEI

Designer

Lisa Pek

Category

Men’s & Women’s / Ready To Wear and Accessories

Brand information / About the designer

―What inspired you to become a fashion designer? Describe developments leading up to the brand launch.

When I was a child I had a big passion for drawing and painting and therefore registered at the local creative high-school which is specialized in fashion-design, fashion illustration, pattern making and textile technology.

Afterwards I had the chance to discover knitwear-design during studying BA of Arts at the University of Art & Design Linz, with the campus based in Vienna.

When completing my degree MA of Art in fashion & technology at LCF / University of the Arts London, I had the chance to explore menswear design with a focus on functional and traditional garment making skills and all the technical aspects in fashion design. There was a huge playground of machinery provided to explore diverse ways on how to finish products.

This path has formed the way I perceive fashion today.
 

―What is the brand’s concept? What do you want to communicate through fashion designing? What are the images of men and women you want to project?

SHOHEI is a brand with its meaning of ‘world peace’.

The brand creates a dialog between man and the modern world within culture, technology and nature.

SHOHEI is using innovative natural fabrics and fuses them with performance fabrics in order to create fashion with a dynamic attitude.

SHOHEI is for the citizen of the world, future optimists embracing nature and technological innovation. For an active, self-driven individual taking responsibility for oneself and the environment.

SHOHEI collection is MADE IN EUROPE & MADE IN JAPAN using blue sign approved & GOTS certificated materials as well as the brand is vegan friendly.
 

―What is your source of inspiration in creating fashion? What is your process of developing a design concept?

Impulse to my work comes from literature, philosophy as well as anthropology. The movement of life and by being an attentive observer of human behavior whilst travelling.
 

―Who are your current stockists (areas, retail formats, etc.)? Describe the typical followers of your brand.

The brand has stockists in Berlin and in N.Y. from October onwards. We operate our own E-Store & physical pop-up stores in Japan and Austria by ourselves.

The typical customer / follower I would describe as a person in love with life. An optimistic, positive, active and intellectual person.
 

―Which brands, designers, styles and cultures have had the most impact on your fashion designing, and why?

Biggest impact to my work comes from life split between the country-side, surrounded by nature and functional/utilitarian style found in outerwear and active-wear and the time spent in the biggest metropolitan of the world, Tokyo, with its diversity and sensitivity for fashion and design aesthetics.

About 2019 S/S collection

―Why have you chosen Tokyo(Amazon Fashion Week TOKYO) as the venue for presenting your collection?

SHOHEI will be represented at both Paris fashion-week with MAN/WOMAN and during Tokyo AMAZON fashion-week.

It is a great opportunity and honor to be showcased at Tokyo AMAZON fashion-week as SHOHEI is created between Austria & Japan and we have the chance to boost the brand’s exposure within Japan’s fashion industry and in same time to an international audience.
 

―What is the concept / image for your brand’s 2019 S/S season?

Inspired by the phenomenon of the merge of ‘blue collar’ and ‘white collar’ class. The social shift in work-class in society is the new SS19 collections concept.
 

―What is your vision for your show / installation?

For the set-design we will have a collaboration with the flower-artist ARBLUEM by Ryuki Yasui-san, with whom we have ongoing collaborations since we met in our neighborhood in Ebisu last year.

Future

―What are your brand’s future outlook and goal?

To expand the brand and to open our own store in Tokyo in the near future.

About TOKYO

―What does Tokyo represent for you?

A city of endless discoveries and possibilities.
 

―What are your favorite / recommended shops (of any genres, e.g. fashion stores, homeware stores, food services), facilities and sites?

I very much like the store Restir and Lift étage for shopping. For food I recommend farmer’s market at United Nations University. To take a relaxed weekend it is great to stroll through Daikanyama or Shunjuku Gyo-en. My favorite bar is HALF MOON at Harajuku.