How Hiroshima and Shintō Shaped a Japanese Fashion Designer's Art 🌸

Japanese artist Ryunosuke Okazaki creates futuristic garments that merge symmetry, sculpture, and spirituality. Born and raised in Hiroshima, where the atomic bomb was dropped in 1945, Okazaki has carried a lifelong wish for peace and harmony between people and nature — central themes that flow through his work.

Drawing inspiration from the ancient Japanese religion of Shintō, his designs embody ritual, spirituality, and a deep connection with the natural world.

Unlike most designers, Okazaki does not begin with sketches. Instead, he works intuitively with his hands, sculpting fabric into complex, otherworldly forms. In this film, we follow his process as he creates JOMONJOMON SAKURA, a sculptural dress made from polyester 'bone' and pink velour fabric.

The dress takes inspiration from cherry blossoms (sakura), a powerful Japanese cultural symbol. Blooming all at once and falling swiftly, the blossoms represent life’s fleeting beauty, impermanence, and renewal.

Through his art, Okazaki reflects on memory, peace, and the cycle of life and death — turning fabric into a meditation on both fragility and strength.

00:00 Meet Fashion Designer Ryunosuke Okazaki
01:04 Cutting fabric for the Sakura cherry blossom dress
02:02 Sewing fabric into coils and assembling the headpiece
04:37 What is Shintō?
05:30 Inspiration from the torii gate of Itsukushima shrine, and Jōmon earthenware
07:10 The impact of Hiroshima
08:02 Dress crafted with material made from origami cranes
08:49 Assembling the Sakura dress on a mannequin and inserting bone structures
09:46 Symbolism of cherry blossoms / sakura
10:59 The power of making
11:28 Revealing the final dress – JOMONJOMON SAKURA

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🌸 See the Okazaki's Sakura dress at V&A South Kensington for London Design Festival 2025 https://www.vam.ac.uk/festival/2025/l...

📌 Want to see more innovative fashion design? Take a look in our Fashion Collection: https://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/fas...