JUDGES

A "HAMON" encourages you to take the feeling inside you that "something is good for some reason" and throw it into society as a stone. These are your own unique values and sensibilities that cannot be clearly verbalized, but which naturally arise from your daily life and memories. The important thing is to believe in that vague yet certain feeling, and have the courage to take a step forward. The moment a HAMON occurs, there is a strong, quiet force. I'm looking forward to encountering that "first drop" that will move people's hearts with the power of design.

This year's theme, "HAMON," anticipates that flexible thinking will generate many small insights, much like falling rain. Rather than immediately aiming for a massive impact, I believe that ideas born from your own daily life, the inconveniences you encounter, or concepts that become truly "personal" for someone important to you will foster a broad HAMON that resonates with many people. I look forward to encountering your inspiring works, born from your unique "stone," that will set new standards.

The idea behind the theme of this exhibition, "HAMON," is to throw a "drop" that has not yet taken shape, standing on the boundary between the ordinary and the extraordinary. Fashion is something that inherently reaches deeply into a person's heart. That's why, rather than trying to reach many people, it's important to first have the strength to move one person. I'm looking forward to encountering designs that will bring about change in the future, believing in small sensations and experiences that come from within the individual, without being swayed by the times.

It's not just the shape of an object, but the intense emotion and the profound possibility of how it can spread to society. I hope to see designs that will create a surprising, powerful "HAMON" (a ripple with deep impact and widespread resonance) that will resonate with people all over the world and spark new HAMONs in each and every place. While art draws people in with the strength of a single point, design reaches many people and impacts society as a whole. Show us a future where your designs become a tiny HAMON that spreads and mingles all over the world. I'm looking forward to seeing that powerful HAMON.

A "HAMON" is a result, not something that happens on its own. The important thing is how to hit with "your own stone." I believe it is that strength and depth which create a HAMON that naturally spreads to others. We have a lot of assumptions in our heads. Those assumptions originate from our own real-life experiences. By carefully digging deeper into the realizations we gain, our subjective ability to "feel" will eventually acquire the objective power to communicate with others. This perspective allows us to experience the world in fresh ways. I look forward to seeing the works that will come out of this.