— First, could you tell us how this project came about?

Yoshiyuki Miyamae (hereafter Miyamae): I first encountered Hanahara-san’s work about ten years ago, when he was in a creative director position at Shiseido. Even back then, his graphics combined vivid colors with dynamic and beautiful compositions, and I clearly remember being drawn to the exquisite balance of his designs.

After he became independent and established the design studio SOAR NY in New York, I continued to follow his work with great interest.

The actual beginning for this project was when Hanahara-san attended an event that A-POC ABLE held in New York in May 2024, which was the brand’s first activation in the city. He showed interest in the Baked Stretch process exhibited at the venue, and as I had also been hoping to collaborate with him, this ultimately led to a partnership.

Masaki Hanahara (hereafter Hanahara): I was of course interested in the Baked Stretch technique itself, but what really appealed to me was that A-POC ABLE showcased not only the products, but also the process behind them. At the time, they were demonstrating two core technologies of A-POC ABLE, Baked Stretch and Steam Stretch. These kinds of sensory experiences, involving sound and heat, captivated people in New York, and the event was very popular. I naturally found myself wanting to become part of that circle.

Nanae Takahashi (hereafter Takahashi): While many people tend to be drawn to Steam Stretch, Hanahara-san was actually the first person to say he wanted to create a project together using Baked Stretch. Thinking about it, his graphic work is very rich in color, so it made sense that he would be interested in Baked Stretch, which is characterized by its vivid coloration.

Hanahara: By applying heat to a specially printed resin, a flat, static 2D fabric rises up and transforms into a three-dimensional form. Moreover, that fabric then wraps around the body. The moment I realized that Baked Stretch is a form of design that embodies movement, my interest was instantly sparked. In my own graphic design practice, I often use “momentum” as a key concept, as it conveys a sense of force or something about to move. I felt that same kind of active energy in Baked Stretch.

Miyamae: Both Steam Stretch and Baked Stretch have their own unique strengths. One of the key qualities of Baked Stretch is the use of hand screen-printing called tenassen as a dyeing technique, where layers of plates are applied to create rich coloration in the fabric. I felt that by incorporating Hanahara-san’s expression into this process, we might be able to further develop the expressive potential of Baked Stretch. And so we decided to explore that possibility.

— You mentioned the word “development”. Could you explain once again what kind of technique Baked Stretch is?

Miyamae: Originally, it is a pleating technique first introduced by ISSEY MIYAKE as part of the Spring/Summer 2016 collection. It was later revisited within A-POC ABLE and has been developed as TYPE-P since 2023. Baked Stretch involves printing both the pattern design and color motifs onto a single piece of fabric, then using the characteristics of an adhesive paste that expands under high heat to create pleated forms. The dyeing technique known as tenassen uses silk screens and a tool called a squeegee to quickly and evenly apply dye mixed with adhesive paste by hand. This process produces both beautiful visual effects and a comfortable stretch pleating at the same time.

Hanahara: When explained in words, it sounds simple but in reality, the process is extremely intricate and it took me quite a while to fully understand it. During the first online meeting after the project began, I was given a demonstration of the Baked Stretch process. But I couldn’t grasp it in just one viewing and had to rewatch the recording many times. Even then, I still didn’t fully understand it. I made a transcript of the meeting, captured screenshots of key steps, and enlarged them to study the details.

Takahashi: Even for members of our engineering team, it takes time to fully understand this process. It’s a kind of work that moves back and forth between 2D and 3D. We design patterns for flat fabric while imagining how it will rise and transform once heat is applied. You have to mentally shift between these dimensions, and it takes about ten years of experience before you develop an intuitive feel for that transition. Getting to that point is quite challenging.

Miyamae: When heat is applied and the fabric contracts, we carefully consider which patterns will appear in areas such as the sides of the neck or under the arms. Similarly, the angles of the pleats, which may appear to be oriented in random directions at first glance, are actually applied while calculating the movement of the body. At A-POC ABLE, designs that may seem casual or unstructured are in fact meticulously engineered. One of our challenges has been to refine further and elevate the level of completion beyond when ISSEY MIYAKE first introduced Baked Stretch. By layering Hanahara-san’s elegant graphics into this process, we believed we could create products full of his momentum, with even greater dynamism and a stronger sense of life than anything we had produced before. That was the central ambition of this project.

Manabu Nakatani (hereafter Nakatani): The pleat lines are a crucial element in our garments, but integrating Hanahara-san’s graphics into them proved to be extremely difficult. It was a major challenge for the A-POC ABLE engineering team as well. There were also limitations regarding the number of colors. To bring out Hanahara-san’s strengths fully, we would ideally layer multiple colors, but Baked Stretch comes with its own constraints. For example, increasing the number of colors requires layering additional printing plates, but each pass through a plate makes the fabric stiffer. As a result, the more layers you add, the more the comfort level of the garment changes. Taking all these factors into account, we even discussed whether the maximum usable number of colors might be limited to three. However, reducing the color palette would also limit the expressive range of Hanahara-san’s work. This was a big dilemma for me as well.

Opening new frontiers

Hanahara: There were definitely stages in the process where I felt things weren’t quite working. I thought I could propose better patterns, but at the same time, I felt they lacked reproducibility, and there were moments when I couldn’t clearly envision a strong graphic design. However, what was really positive was that we were always able to have discussions that pushed us forward. Everyone at A-POC ABLE approached things with a positive mindset, and whenever we hit a wall, they suggested shifting perspectives. Each time we discussed, I felt energized and returned to my work with renewed motivation. That made me really happy, and the whole process was genuinely enjoyable.

Nakatani: We really wanted to bring out the full strength of Hanahara-san’s work. Since we committed to this project, we wanted to elevate each other and gain new insights from one another’s practices. As a result, A-POC ABLE ended up following a process we had almost never attempted before. Looking back, what we gained through this trial-and-error collaboration with Hanahara-san was truly significant. We developed a new method of expression, which is integrating graphic design directly into the adhesive paste patterns. This, in turn, expanded the range of products even within TYPE-P, the original series created by the A-POC ABLE team.

Hanahara: For me personally as well, this became a wonderful opportunity for growth. The collaborative process was full of learning experiences, and I feel that it enriched my work.

Nakatani: There was a point when your graphic ideas really started to flow, wasn’t there?

Hanahara: Yes. When I was struggling to figure out what kind of graphics would suit Baked Stretch, Miyamae-san’s design decision to go with typography was a turning point. From there, everything suddenly became much easier to develop.

Miyamae: At every presentation, Hanahara-san would show us an incredible number of graphic samples. Each one had its own strength as a pattern and they were all outstanding. Even just looking at his use of green, it was bold, expansive, and carried a sense of elegance. There were so many that it was difficult to choose.

Takahiro Hoshino (hereafter Hoshino): TYPE-XV 002 and 003 actually began as an attempt to make use of patterns that we couldn’t incorporate into Baked Stretch. But when we created samples, Hanahara-san told us, “We can do much more,” and went on to propose 20 or 30 new design ideas.

Hanahara: For TYPE-XV 002 and 003, we decided to create T-shirts using A-POC’s signature seamless knit, so there was no need for the adhesive paste used in the pleating process. However, I intentionally reinterpreted the paste pattern as a stripe motif within the graphic design. That’s how these patterns came to be.

Hoshino: The idea that even the areas where paste is applied could become part of the design was something we had never thought of previously. Hanahara-san’s way of thinking is truly flexible, and every time we saw his graphics, we found them so exciting and fascinating.

Nakatani: Even looking back now, every single graphic is beautiful. It makes me want to carry forward the ones we couldn’t use this time into the next season.

Takahashi: It is as if these designs had always existed within A-POC ABLE. They truly embody the aesthetic values that we hold dear.

Miyamae: And yet, Hanahara-san proposed extraordinary patterns that we could never have created on our own. His graphics are truly exceptional: pure, vibrant, and full of dynamism. It’s not easy to give graphics strength while maintaining a sense of freedom and elegance. In this project, Hanahara-san broke through that barrier. Once again, it reminded us of the true value and excitement of collaborating with someone from outside our organization.

Ideas are hidden in what people tend to overlook

Nakatani: This isn’t limited to this project, but when we look at finished Baked Stretch products, there are moments when we can sense a feeling of “Ah, the fabric is resisting here.”

Hanahara: The fabric is resisting?

Nakatani: As you gain experience, it starts to feel like you can hear the voice of the fabric.

Takahashi: It’s true, there are parts where the fabric resists.

Nakatani: But it’s also important to leave those resistant areas as they are. If you don’t leave that kind of margin or openness, the product becomes self-indulgent. We can pursue our intentions to the fullest, correct everything, and create something technically perfect. But by doing so, it can end up becoming something that no one finds appealing.

Takahashi: Hanahara-san, through this project you’ve come to understand Baked Stretch quite deeply. So you might start to hear the voice of the fabric too.

Hanahara: I don’t think I’ve reached that level of clarity just yet.

Nakatani: By the way, how do you usually come up with your patterns? I’ve always been curious. Do you have something like a “correct answer” in your mind for combining colors and motifs? Do you start from color, or do you begin with a graphic and then apply color to it? What is the source of your ideas? I’ve been wanting to ask you that for a long time.

Hanahara: Some of the patterns I proposed this time came from intuition. Others emerged as I painted on canvas, exploring ideas like, “What would happen if I did this?” There were also instances where I combined several drawings I had originally set aside, thinking I wouldn’t use them, and then suddenly realized, “Oh, this could be interesting.”

Nakatani: That kind of instinct is important. Being able to find a spark in something easily overlooked. Thinking that something might be interesting can make a big difference.

Miyamae: We experience that in our own work as well. It’s a kind of ability to pick things up, or perhaps an intuition. It’s hard to find the right word for it, but it’s definitely an essential quality.

Nakatani: Sometimes hints are hidden in small, seemingly insignificant things we wouldn’t normally notice. For example, you might be struck by the motion of a piece of paper falling, and think, “If I could give this reproducibility, it could become something really interesting.” At Issey Miyake, there’s an environment that nurtures that kind of curiosity: an environment where you can experiment freely and pursue ideas further.

Hanahara: I strongly felt that kind of culture and atmosphere through this joint effort as well. Even with collaborations with people from different fields, they don’t seem to be just about creating new items, but about looking further into the future. There’s a core philosophy here, and it’s embodied through the practice of making clothes. I feel grateful to have been able to take part in that challenge.

Miyamae: Hanahara-san, you’ve also been taking on many new challenges. In 2025, you were commissioned by New York City to create a large-scale public artwork in the Dumbo neighborhood of Brooklyn, and you’re the first Japanese designer to do so. That mural was truly remarkable, and it made me feel that your graphics have a strong affinity with large spaces. For this project, we printed your graphics to cover an entire wall at ISSEY MIYAKE GINZA / 442, and it created a very uplifting space. Your work doesn’t lose its appeal even when scaled up. In fact, it brings rhythm and expansiveness to the entire environment. Whether viewed up close or experienced from a distance as part of a space, it has a power to resonate beautifully at any scale.

Hanahara: Lately, I’ve also been interested in how graphic design can engage with interiors and urban spaces. Moving forward, I’d love to continue collaborating with everyone at A-POC ABLE and expand these possibilities further. Someday I hope we can also work together on a project in New York, which is the base of my activities.

Masaki Hanahara
In 2025, he became the first Japanese designer commissioned by New York City to create a large-scale public artwork in the DUMBO district of Brooklyn. His major awards include a Gold Award from the New York ADC, a Gold Pencil at The One Show, and the JAGDA New Designer Award. In recent years, he has also served as a juror for international design awards such as the New York ADC and London D&AD.