Visvim “A Cycle of Craftsmanship” film by Young Kim

Its only so long I can go without mentioning Visvim. And seen as I haven't posted on hear in a while its only fair that I get stuck in with some news form the F.I.L. camp.

In the search for a new shop in Kyoto, Hiroki Nakamura, head honcho of Visvim, came across a doll shop which had closed down after seeing generations of family ownership. Whilst not his usual style of shop there was some very tangible history to the store and a story that rang very true with the ethics of his own brand which helped in the decision to go with the store.

Rather than gut the store and strip it back to its basic elements, Hiroki decided to keep all fixtures and fittings, and even some of the old stock as a reminder of the history of the place.
To celebrate the opening of the store Young Kim has created a video for Visvim called 'The Cycle of Craftsmanship' which can be found at all F.I.L locations and a handful of select Visvim accounts...

Hopefully my copy should be here any time now...



via Hypebeast

F.I.L. yer boots

As you should be well aware by now, I absolutely adore Visvim due to the construction, design, material selection, branding, marketing and ethics of the brand. One thing that I haven't mentioned so far is the F.I.L. stores which carry the Visvim brand across the 5 stores. The Free International Laboratory (F.I.L) stores are now synonymous with the clean styling of the brand and help create a calming atmosphere in which the brand can be viewed, but perhaps more importantly, touched.

As with the rest of the Visvim/F.I.L/Cubism branding I can't help but love the design (or lack thereof) of the shops. I could waffle on about clean lines, simple shapes, neutral backgrounds and how this helps to accentuate the chaff from the other stuff, but I'll just let the photos do the talking.

Again a long post but I'm sure you'll understand when you see these places...

First F.I.L. in Tokyo


Tokyo Relaunch at new location


Store front sign, Tokyo


F.I.L Sendai


Sendai exterior


Massive glaring in-your-face sign, Sendai


F.I.L Hiroshima


F.I.L Hiroshima


F.I.L Kanazawa



F.I.L./Cubism Offices Meguro Rice Factory

Honeyee Mag Vol. 5

If you've read my earlier posts I'm sure you'll be aware of Visvim, and how much I've begun to really appreciate the quality of design and the beautiful materials that they utilise. What you may also know is that once I get a sniff of something I like, I'm usually all over it it like a bad rash.

So when I spotted the release of Honeyee Mag Vol.5 I had to get excited. On the front cover we see my man of the moment Hiroki Nakamura pissing around with some elk hides.

Unfortunately the mag is only produced in Japanese so I'm not too sure what's inside, but you can be sure it'll be a good read if mr.blog (Jeff Ng of Staple & Honeyee) has had any input.

Best get back to the Japanese lessons...
And saving up some more dollar for the next Visvim release.