“BETWEEN LINE AND PATTERN”

Noguchi told us that she had always exhibited her interest in art while growing up. As she had read books related to art and visited museums following her curiosity, her interest gradually broadened to fashion.

“My grandmother used to make clothes by herself from fabrics she chose. And that is why there were many fabrics and rolls of cloth in my house. Having grown up in such an environment, I had deepened my love of fabrics and clothes without knowing it. By the time I was in elementary school, I remade clothes that my grandmother gave me and was into wearing my favorite clothes to school every day. I was already planning to get a job related to fabrics or clothes in the future by then.”

After graduating from Musashino Art University Junior College of Art and Design, Noguchi moved to London to study textile design in earnest. While studying at Chelsea College of Arts, she began her career as a textile designer.

“After having given my full attention to textile designing in London, I realized my love of combining patterns. On a textile, you can connect a pattern endlessly and repeat it seamlessly. I admire such permanence that a textile has.”

Following her graduation from the college in London, Noguchi went back to Japan after spending some time in New York. She then established a fashion brand, NŌMA t.d. in 2005. While expressing her distinct world view through textiles based on hand-drawn designs, she has explored the potential of screen printing methods. Last year, she combined her silkscreen artworks into a book titled BETWEEN LINE AND PATTERN (published by SO1) and held her first screen print show in time with the publication.

“I find screen printing interesting because you can make your work like an actual painting even though the method was developed for mass production.”

As a textile designer, Noguchi collaborated with ENGINEERED GARMENTS for the brand’s latest collection. Several items in the collection including the brand’s signature LOITER JACKET are made with fabrics exclusively designed by NŌMA t.d.

“When we had the first meeting, Daiki (Suzuki) told me that the key colors of his Fall/Winter 2018 collection were ‘red and black,’ and one of his inspirations of the season was The Red and the Black, a novel written by French author Stendhal in the middle of the 19th century. So I also read the book and designed textiles based on images I got from the book. Because it was the first time for me to get inspirations from French literature, there were many new challenges such as adopting a new touch for drawing. It was a really fun experience.”

A spin-off exhibition of this collaboration, BETWEEN LINE AND PATTERN, is scheduled to be started at NEPENTHES NEW YORK on September 13 before traveling to other NEPENTHES group stores in Japan according to the schedule below. Exhibition Schedule: From Sept. 13 〜 at NEPENTHES NEW YORK, from Oct. 19 to 21 at NEPENTHES TOKYO, from Oct. 26 to 28 at NEPENTHES HAKATA, from Nov. 9 to11 at NEPENTHES OSAKA. The exhibition is also scheduled to be held at SOUTH2 WEST8 in November.

“The design for EG's Fall/Winter 2018 collection is made by connecting five different patterns. At the exhibition in New York, those five patterns will be broken down into each individual design and reconstructed as a canvas artwork. In Japan, it will be a show that explores the relationship between lines and patterns more deeply as the title insists. The artworks for the latter exhibition will be printed on paper and look totally different from the canvas ones shown at the exhibition held in New York. At a pop-up store installed at each store during the exhibition, one-off silk shirts and some exclusive items featuring patterns chosen from textiles used in the past collections of NŌMA t.d. will be sold.”