An Artisan Umbrella for Yohji Yamamoto
It’s been almost 100 years since Komiya Shoten was founded. And in that time the brand has been razor focused on perfecting one single item, the umbrella.
Walk into its Tokyo-based store and you’ll find umbrellas of every ilk for every weather (from water-repellent umbrellas to UV-resistant ones for sunny days) but there is one all-black anomaly about to join its vast product selection. Japanese avant-garde designer Yohji Yamamoto has created his own Komiya Shoten umbrella.
Made from Komiya Shoten’s signature wrinkle gabardine fabric, this collaborative umbrella is handmade in Japan by the brand’s artisans.
It’s a summer umbrella, designed as a sun parasol and not fit for use in rain. But, typical of Yamamoto, it doesn’t come in a particularly summery color (the designer rarely departs from his signature dark palette).
On the umbrella, the handle ring and ferrule (a metal cap at the end of the handle) are made of engraved brass and finished with black nickel plating.
It’s all very high-end, artisan-made stuff. And this is reflected in the $720 price point (the umbrella releases on May 2 on Yohji Yamamoto’s online store), making it considerably more expensive than your regular Komiya Shoten umbrella, which costs anywhere between $15 and $300.
But of course, this isn’t your regular Komiya Shoten umbrella. The handmade umbrella maker, one of the last to exist in Tokyo, has been brought together with one of Japan’s most pioneering designers.
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