--sasakiakira.net--Akira Sasaki's Official--

	2006.10.12 Akira
	2006.9.15 Akira
	2006.9.4 Akira
	2006.8.14 Akira
	2006.6.20 Akira
	2006.3.17 Akira
	2006.3.15 Akira
	2006.1.26 Akira
	2006.1.16 Yasuyuki Watanabe
	2006.1.6 Series3
	2005.12.22 Series2
	2005.12.15 Yasuyuki Watanabe
	2005.11.30 Series1
	2005.11.9 Kenichi Miyazawa
	2005.11.1 Junji Takano
	2005.10.13 Yutaka Kudo
	2005.10.3 Akira
	2005.6.8 Akira
	2005.3.18 Akira Takeuchi
	2005.3.7 Hitoshi Kimura
	2005.2.28 Kenta Uraki
	2005.2.16 Ken Odashima
	2005.2.3 Toshinori Kaneda
	2005.1.20 Hiroki Ito

2005.3.18 United Arrows, Akira Takeuchi

For a job, I have aimed to make beautiful, cool, and comfortable clothing for 20 years, but I can say , looking back to the past, that this goal has never been fulfilled.

From last season, I was fortunate enough to have a chance to work with Akira Sasaki on the design of his racing suit with our Sales Promotion Staff, Ito. I'm sure if you were an alpine racing fan, you have seen our “fireworks" design. In my childhood memory, I remember gazing up into the sky not only for the beauty of the fireworks itself but for the contrast of the grayish color after it has burned out and the dark sky that spreads afterwards, giving me a deep and overwhelming impression of infinite space. I never confessed to Akira and will confess for the first time now, but I remember making a strong request to the manufacturer of the suit to give more attention not to the design itself but to that contrast (the position of the grayish color and the whole meaning of it). The design seems very simple, but Akira with the “fireworks" suit produces a different look when looked at from different angles. From one angle, he seems to look like a paper cutout, and from another, he seems to have another illusion of him or his body seems to have depth. There are times when I think I will never encounter a design so highly completed!!

Next, this year's design, the hippy and preppy kind of current day emotions are straightly yet lightly expressed with a bit of pop. We aimed to make the design not just to express the simple oldness of the matter but to express a refined and classical modern image, but what we wanted to express the most was “Peace". Last year was a year of war and terrorism which took away many lives. I believe war is the ultimate figure of people trying to value what they have carried with them, loving it, trying to protect it, become attached to itﾉ then trying to carry more than their capacity. Including myself, great many of the population carry and live with anxiety and pressure. The message we wanted to give out to this point in time, was to give your heart a break, relax, don't become attached to one thing and letﾕs try strolling a bit!

I only meet with him 2 or 3 times a year so I can't say much about Akira, but there was this one incident. Last season when he was back in Japan with his injury and was taking time off from the World Cup, I had the chance to meet with him in Sugadaira at the year's end. He probably came into the slopes to make adjustments by skiing a few SL sets with different skis, but he was soon surrounded by fans wanting autographs, handshakes, and photographs. He seems to love kids and I remember him carrying 2 to 3 of them in his arms and skied! His service to the fans is far more than that of Beckham! Of course, it is a fun and happy story to tell now, but being in his shoe, it's only normal to think he must have been going through a lot of pressure and must have felt irritated after going into the season in a good condition, carrying much expectations, but failing to fulfill it.

“Happy people in the world" was the theme of this season's racing suit, but watching him ski with this suit, I feel that he knows by instinct what it is that is really important. Probably, he doesn't have a strong ego, like “I am" or “for me". People with strong egos tend to mind public attention and are unable to accept their failures and capacity which unknowingly ties them up. Him never becoming nervous at the World Cup, never becoming anxious when injured, never minding falling on skis, talking about his failures like they are his deeds… seems to me he only thinks of them as really small things. The famous “180"… can you imagine how many people saw that and gave out a relieving sigh! Though he is said to be not so strong in foreign languages, I'm sure sensitive foreigners would become his fans not only by watching him ski, but by seeing through his innocence. I hope he keeps making his way in through the World Cup.

“Happy people in the world"ﾉ On reflection, maybe this design was unnecessary for Akira Sasaki!