MICHAIL GKINIS INTERVIEW
MICHAIL GKINIS Interview
Greece, Japan, and the place where “Wearable Art” is born
Childhood memories in Greece
What kind of child were you, MICHAIL? What was your childhood like in Greece?
I grew up in Thessaloniki, my hometown in Greece.
As a child, I think I was rather shy. I was the kind of boy who quietly observed his surroundings.
At the same time, my mother had an atelier where she made dresses and other clothes, so sewing machines and fabrics were always very close to me. I grew up watching her work in that creative, productive, and sometimes stressful world of making clothes.
How old were you when you left Greece for London?
I was about 22 or 23.
London, fashion, and the journey to Japan
After leaving Greece, you studied in London, and then eventually came to Japan.
While I grew up under my mother’s influence in Greece, I was also deeply drawn to music, art, and subcultures as a young person.
In the early 1990s, subcultures such as post-punk and new wave from America and London were very powerful. They had a strong influence on my artistic sensibility.
Greek universities did not really suit me, so I moved to London and studied at the London College of Fashion. There, I discovered my passion for fashion and art, and my interest in Japan became even deeper.
What we want to express through the brand
Please tell us about the values and ideas you want to share through the brand.
Before becoming the brand now known as MICHAIL GKINIS AOYAMA, there was a brand called aptform. From the beginning, my idea was to create a contrast between nature and industrial elements.
Through more than ten years of trial and error, and through our experience as designers, artists, and entrepreneurs, we realized that our main purpose is to express the creativity that exists inside each person, and to communicate with the world through that creativity.
When our customers become more creative and confident, we feel truly happy. We believe that creativity helps people build a better life. Our manifesto is: “Wear your creativity.”
The aesthetics behind the embroidered tag
I heard that you are very particular about the shape and size of the embroidered tag, which has become one of MGA’s icons. Could you share the story behind it?
About 20 years ago, I was working in Greece with the visual artist and typographer Apostolos Rizos. He came up with the idea for this particular shape.
It is a shape somewhere between a square and a circle. It is not complete, and the lines that form the four elements are slightly asymmetrical. It is neither a square nor a circle. It does not fit into one category. That shape expressed my sense of beauty and my way of designing very well.
Later, after I came to Japan, I developed the inner lines further, inspired by the philosophy of wabi-sabi. Although the embroidery is made by machine, I adjusted the embroidery data by hand myself.
As a young designer, I wanted to express contrasts: industrial and natural, machine and handwork. That was one of my first major challenges.
The roots of the design
I grew up with a natural interest in ancient Greek culture. I was influenced by architectural elements and by the philosophies developed by the Greek people.
Ideas from thinkers such as Socrates, and later from philosophers such as Immanuel Kant, also gave me clues for how to think.
At the same time, movements in contemporary art were also important to me. Books about Buddhism, reincarnation, and Eastern thought left a strong impression on me as well.
From Japan, I was influenced by the visual beauty of cinema. The monochrome landscapes in films by Kenji Mizoguchi, Akira Kurosawa, and Yasujiro Ozu, which I watched in Greece during my youth, resonated deeply with my sensibility. Futuristic films such as Blade Runner, which I saw during my university years, also had a major impact on me.
What is important to you when you design and create?
For me, It is about creating a fusion of contrasting elements—for example, the fusion of industrial elements and nature. The fabric itself is the source of inspiration.
A single form can transform into various expressions. The wearer can express themselves through their own free style. I am deeply interested in this very ‘changeability’—the fact that it is not fixed.
People can change, and everything in this world is subject to change. Clothes are something people wear. I want them to possess artistic elements whilst remaining functional, comfortable and practical; I want them to bring about change not only in form but also in the spirit. All these elements form the starting point for my creative process.
The hand-drawn line as emotion itself
What kind of feeling do you put into your hand-drawn lines?
My line is emotion itself.
A line drawn without a specific meaning expresses the emotion of that exact moment. When I draw or paint on fabric, the line becomes a stronger and more powerful stroke.
There is inspiration from calligraphy and abstract expressionism. Color creates form, and the composition and connection between colors are some of the most inspiring elements for me. But I cannot draw these lines at any time. When I feel connected to some invisible force, the lines come all at once. It feels almost as if something divine is expressing itself through my hand.
Finding the foundation of the brand in Todoroki Valley
Since starting the brand, are there any memorable events or unexpected moments that still stay with you?
After one presentation, I cried outside the building. I was disappointed by the result. I think I have a rather sensitive and naive side.
But all of those experiences accumulated and became connected to the differences in our characters and to the vision of the brand. Looking back, I think they were meaningful experiences.
For me, one of the most memorable events was moving to Todoroki Valley. Being in that environment created a big turning point for us.
We were surrounded by greenery every day, and MICHAIL, who had mainly worked in monochrome until then, began to bring color into his work. We also began to have a small shop-like space where we could communicate directly with customers, and that was very important.
Moving to Todoroki Valley also allowed us to deepen the new category of “Wearable Art Stoles.” I think that move helped create the foundation of the brand as it exists today.
The environment helped us. After that, we began appearing on television, and opportunities with Isetan and Hankyu followed. It felt as if the path suddenly opened once we were able to see our originality and our strengths more clearly.
The move to Todoroki was the event that made the brand start moving in an interesting way.
At first, I was simply doing what MICHAIL asked me to do. I had not decided the brand name myself, and I felt as if I was supporting the brand financially while watching the people around us get excited.
But around the time we moved to Todoroki, I decided that I had to take this seriously. While looking at the greenery of Todoroki Valley and letting my mind wander, I suddenly realized that the ideas behind ancient Greece and Japanese kimono shared something in common. From that moment, my involvement with the brand became much deeper, and I began contributing more and more ideas.
Materials, kimono, and sustainable creation
Please tell us about the feelings you put into materials and processes, and how you choose materials.
I choose materials from the perspective of something that is futuristic, but still natural.
You also remake kimono. How do you approach kimono as a material?
Kimono has sustainable value. It is beautiful, historical, and meaningful, yet today there are fewer opportunities to wear it.
Many people do not know how to make use of kimono in modern life. That is why we wanted to simplify and reconstruct kimono into different forms, so that more people could wear it in more situations.
We began using kimono because of a customer’s request. Someone who loved MICHAIL’s clothes trusted him and asked, “Could you make something from my kimono? Any shape you like is fine.” She was very happy with the result.
That made us think, “This could bring joy to many more people.” So we applied to Setacolor, a support project in Setagaya, and that was the beginning.
The meaning behind the brand name and logo
What kind of meaning or story is behind the brand logo and name?
The current brand name is “MICHAIL GKINIS AOYAMA.” It represents the brand itself.
The brand name brings together the names of the two of us as a creative unit, and it also carries the meaning of fusing “art” and “product.”
“MICHAIL” contains a free spirit connected to nature and calligraphy. “AOYAMA,” on the other hand, includes elements of business, product, and the industrial.
Art and industry, Japan and Greece, industrial elements and nature. Through the logo and the brand name, we express the beauty of these opposing forces.
The most exciting moment in creating
What is the moment that excites you most when you are creating?
Good things are born when there is joy. When I feel happy within myself, the act of creation begins to flow naturally.
Design takes inspiration from small things: the color and shape of a flower, rain, a movement of emotion. Those moments become the beginning.
When I design something, I imagine the person who will wear it first. That feedback is very important to me.
My work is always supported by contrasts such as industrial and natural, hard and soft, reality and dream. Those contrasts are the source of creation.
From my point of view, designers and artists like MICHAIL begin creating when their heart is moved.
Rather than gathering information from outside and combining it, he creates concepts from emotions that rise from within himself, and then gives them form.
The future we want to realize through the brand
What kind of future do you want to create through this brand?
This is very clear to me. I imagine a world that is connected.
People of different races, body types, and ways of thinking wear our Art Stoles in their own way, express their individuality freely, smile, and create a circle that connects around the earth. That is the vision I imagine.
Through free sizing and many different ways of wearing, people can express themselves and feel, “I am wonderful.” I want to help create a future where people accept themselves and others more freely.
A message to society and the fashion industry
Are there any issues you feel in society or the industry, or any message you want to share?
Japanese craftsmanship is truly wonderful, but one major issue is that successors are disappearing and many techniques are being lost.
It is very difficult to pass on the intuition and sensitivity that exist only in the minds and hands of highly skilled craftspeople.
Fashion today is becoming polarized between very inexpensive things and very expensive things. But I want more people to understand that if you wear truly good things for a long time, they have real value in the end.
When you wear high-quality fabric, your mind becomes calmer, you gain confidence, and sometimes people compliment you. I want more people to experience that positive cycle.
Music, places, and everyday inspiration
What kind of music do you often listen to while working? Do you have any favorite places?
I listen to ambient, techno, post-punk, new wave, and many other kinds of music depending on my mood. When I draw or design, I also often listen to film soundtracks.
Music always influences my creation. It connects design and emotion.
My favorite places are near shrines. There are quiet moments there, and the time I spend almost speaking toward the sky helps me settle my mind. I also love the sea, though unfortunately I cannot go there very often.
I also like ambient music, almost like environmental music. I enjoy listening to it in nature.
My favorite places are shrines and places with nature. I like walking along the Tama River, and I often go to Todoroki Valley and Todoroki Fudoson Temple.
I also like the smell of Tokyo as a city and the atmosphere of high-rise buildings. Futuristic places like Shibuya have energy, and they stimulate me a lot.
At the same time, my daily life now is spent in quiet nature, so I feel that balance is important.
Philosophical dialogue and enjoying the present
What do you enjoy in your private time? Do you have any hobbies?
I am not the kind of person who divides daily life by hobbies. I begin something when my mood or feeling moves me.
Since coming to Japan, I have come to enjoy philosophical conversation. I like the kind of time where people talk freely in the moment, without being attached to a result.
In Mediterranean culture, there is a way of thinking that says, “Enjoy the present.” Why regret yesterday? Why worry about tomorrow? I think there is an optimistic attitude of living in the now.
What we want to challenge next
Is there anything you would like to challenge in the future, either in work or personally?
Through wearable art made with Japanese textiles, I want to bring out people’s confidence and creativity, so they can be who they truly want to be. I want to connect with people who enjoy life more freely, and to expand that circle around the world. That is what I want to do.
Through my experiences, I have also noticed some simple principles. If sharing them can help someone feel saved or happy, that becomes my joy.
My challenge is to take the brand further into the world. I would like to reach places such as London, Northern Europe, and the Middle East, where I feel our clothes could resonate.
London is where MICHAIL studied fashion, and it feels like a second home. We may have connections in Northern Europe, and when we exhibited in the Middle East before, the response was very good.
Our brand fuses Japanese materials and philosophy with Greek sensibility.
We want to meet curious and intellectual people who can understand and resonate with that. Multicultural cities such as London and cities in the Middle East have that potential. We would like to exchange with those people and build a meaningful community.
To customers in Japan and around the world
What would you like to say to customers in Japan, and to customers overseas?
I do not separate Japan and overseas. Everyone is one human being.
What we want to share is the importance of expressing yourself, and the confidence that is born when you become creative.
We hope you can find your own voice and individuality. If we can support you in that, we are very happy.
If you were to describe this brand in one phrase?
Finally, if you were to describe this brand in one phrase, what would it be?
“Wearable Art to Bring People Together.”
Wearable art that allows people to express their individuality freely and connect with one another through smiles.