A Sense of Style It was during a visit to Paris when Kanna Yamauchi originally decided she would become a fashion designer. Some may say it was inevitable and that a sense of style was in her blood – her mother has been one of Okinawa’s top designers for more than thirty years. Upon her return to Okinawa, Kanna quit her job as a tour guide, enrolled in fashion art college, and hasn’t looked back. Now age 32, Kanna has received several design awards, gained prefectural sponsorship, and set up her own company, Yokang. Where do the ideas for your designs come from? “I grew up in Yanaburu; it’s very rural so you’re always surrounded by nature. The mountains, trees, ocean and flowers of Okinawa have all influenced the patterns in my clothes. When designing a new article, I think about the structure of the dress or shirt, and then work out which material and pattern will best fit that particular piece. While studying at college, I spent my afternoons helping my mother make clothes …

Bokunen was born on the small Okinawan island of Izena in 1953. As a child, he always carried a sketchbook, and drew pictures of the island’s creatures and landscapes. At that time, he never imagined a career as an artist, and thought he would become either a fisherman or a carpenter. His talent, however, did not go unnoticed. One of his teachers recommended that he attend an art-based high school on the main island of Okinawa. After graduation, Bokunen became a graphic designer and set up his own design production company, Project Core. It is his skills as a woodblock artist that have gained him them most recognition. His colorful, dream-like prints were used for the Kyoto Climate Conference in 1997, the G8 Summit in 2000, and in numerous exhibitions across Japan. What process do you go through to create the prints? “I begin with a vague idea of what the image will be like, but as soon as I start to carve the wood, things change. The whole process is very fluid, almost like …