Divka is a design team established in 2011. Takayuki Tanaka and Motoyuki Matsumoto are developing the various projects through fashion. At the heart of the practices work is a concern to communicate to people through their works. In 2012, Divka was selected as a finalist of MANGO FASHION AWARD 4th edition, and won the best award of 2012 TOKYO New Designer Grand Prix professional category.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do. We manage a women’s fashion brand Divka since 2011 in Tokyo, Japan.

What are some recent, upcoming or current projects you are working on? Every six months we design clothes and present them in Tokyo and Paris.

How did your interest in art or fashion begin? We would dress ourselves as kids and that began as an interest to design clothes.

If you had to explain your work or brand to a stranger, what would you say? Our brand Divka aims to make something new in fashion design. And the feature of Divka’s clothes is a lot, which include various methods of draping.

What materials do you use in your work and what is your process like? We usually use basic fabrics such as cotton and wool. We attach importance to do research before designing a new collection. We think the research is an important aspect to make something new. It gives us new knowledge and new impressions.

What are your thoughts about the fashion scene in Tokyo? We think people transitioned to like simple clothes more than before. Therefore we want to present more experimental clothing.

If you hadn’t become a designer what do you think you’d be doing? I would have been a Buddhist priest. From generation to generation, my family has a history with the Buddhist religion and being a Buddhist priest.