Koinobori Fashion Collection
The project was founded in 2012 by Japanese fashion designer Taichiro Takamatsu in collaboration with Hisa Enomoto from the kokemoos association. Koinobori flags donated by the Japanese Koinobori Project in Paris were combined with reclaimed and discarded materials to create a wearable collection that brought together cultural heritage, sustainability and artistic expression.
Inspired by this vision, Celene Venosa and designer Michael Ellinger further developed the project in 2013–2014, making upcycling a central theme. Working with existing materials, they developed new garments from textiles that would otherwise have been discarded, allowing the original fabrics to take on entirely different forms.
Each piece is carefully cut and constructed so that its form reflects the original patterns of the fabric, allowing the vivid graphic motifs of the koi fish to flow into wearable compositions.
Drawing inspiration from Japanese aesthetics, the collection brings together three guiding concepts:
- Koinobori - carp streamers associated with vitality and perseverance, reflecting the carp’s ability to swim upstream.
- Kintsugi - the Japanese practice of repairing broken pottery with lacquer and gold, embracing the repairs as part of an object’s history and beauty.
- Upcycling - the creative act of giving discarded materials renewed value, transforming them into something useful and expressive.
Inspired by the Japanese appreciation of repair in kintsugi, the collection gives existing textiles a new purpose while preserving traces of their original character.
Presented in collaboration with the kokemoos association. http://www.kokemoos.eu/koi-mode/
