Mini Bus Premium
Tokyo, Japan / 2015

“Juni-Hitoe”

Outech is a company that originally established as a travel agency and now provides highest quality limousine service for anybody and any occasion to meet customer’s request and also can escort even VIP or executives from overseas with strong English ability.
Mini Bus Premium, their own microbus, gives people from all over the world a nice experience to feel “Japan”. Accordingly I put an idea of Juni-Hitoe, which is a twelve-layered ceremonial kimono worn by court ladies from the 10th century in the Heian period, into the interior design by using Nishijin Fabric that is a famous traditional product in Kyoto.
The color arrangement of layers used in Juni-Hitoe is called “Kasane no Irome”. (Irome means color combinations used in such as Juni-Hitoe.)
Kasane has two different meanings: one is to wear some Kimonos over the other. They elaborated their styles in dressing because the color combination showed at the sleeves and the hem. The other is to be seen the color of the lining through the outer side of Kimono.
Irome has a lot of variations connecting with seasons, plants and a color gradient and people would select depending on the season and the event.
This time it is adopted an Irome named “Kurenai-Momiji” that means scarlet maple leaves and represents autumn. In regards to the pattern, I select one of the Japanese traditional diamond shapes, “Ireko-Hishi”.
Exterior part of the bus is covered with an explanation of “Juni-Hitoe” in ten languages in order to tell people from overseas directly about the Japanese culture. This explanation seems like the diamond shape pattern from a distance.
I hope that this bus will be a bridge between Japan and the world.

Photos by Keisuke Miyamoto

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ku:kan Sep. + Oct. 2015 Issue