Let’s start with the name.
cloth and paper flowers = flowers made of cloth or paper
chimai-mon = small and pretty
As the name suggests, I make flowers using fabric and paper. The flowers we make are often small (tiny) ones that can be worn, and depending on the flower we make, sometimes the number of petals on a single flower can exceed 100.
I like doing it, but I often wonder how often I do it myself. That’s why I named it “Chimai-mon”, as a joking nuance. As I feel like it, as my hands like it.
I make what I want to make. That is the stance I take when creating my works.
Nuno Hana and Paper Flower Inside chimai-mon
Designer Miki Bando
| 1983 | be born |
| 2002 | Graduated from Aichi University of the Arts, majoring in design. |
| 2009 | Moved to Gifu upon marriage |
| 2013 | Launches Cloth Flower Shop chimai-mon |
| 2017 | Engaged in product design in Seki City, Gifu Prefecture, the town of cutlery |
| 2021 | Incorporate Mino Washi. And change the trade name to “Nuno Hana and Paper Flower chimai-mon”. |
Until I started “chimai-mon”.
Childhood love of drawing and crafts
Influenced by my parents’ involvement in manufacturing, I had a vague idea that I wanted to be a painter in the future. But the world is not that easy and I heard that very few people can make a living as a painter But the world is not that easy and very few people can make a living as a painter. There was no internet like today. Amidst the anxiety of “apparently,” I learned in junior high school that there were “art universities” in the world (commonly known as “art colleges”). So apparently there are a lot of people there who draw pictures and make things.
It sounds a lot more fun than doing regular studies! I want to be able to make money doing what I love anyway. That’s how I came to think of it, and naturally I decided to go to an art college.
After graduating from college, I entered the world of advertising.
I was engaged in design work mainly in the field of advertising and publicity in the city of Nagoya, which has both urban and rural faces. I worked on holidays, did service (and lots of it) overtime, and worked past the date. I was working in a so-called dark-colored industry with a certain amount of physical exertion. “This is what being creative is like. I was euphorically busy and gained a good deal of skill and experience.
Leaving the hustle and bustle of the city for a country town upon marriage.
Gifu City is not so rural, but at that time, I was terribly disappointed, saying, “I’ve come to the countryside! I was terribly disappointed, saying, “There is no spectacular work in such a land (pardon the pun). In fact, compared to my time in Nagoya, the work was all small-scale!
Ten years in the workforce. Starting to wonder if I can keep this up.
Although the work involved the use of so-called Adobe software, it did not require a particularly high level of design. Because we were making ads for a town magazine, the work became more and more routine and operational. How to finish the job with fewer and fewer steps, citing past articles. We used shortcuts to get the job done, just like an RTA in a game.
What do you want to do as a designer or creator?
The more I started to do my work, the more strongly I wanted to “genuinely create something,” as if in reaction. I would paint or do crafts after coming home or on my days off. I began to lose track of time and immerse myself in it, just like when I was a child.
So I started making cloth flowers as one of my hobbies to fulfill my creative desires that could not be dissipated at work. Now it is going a little beyond the realm of a hobby.
But perhaps it is the nature of designers to want to show off what they have started as a hobby. We hope you will stay with us through this site.
