LITTLE HANDBAGS FROM ISHINOMAKI｜EXHIBITION | Creation Gallery G8

This year’s CREATION Project invited designers to collaborate with Mobby Dick Inc., Japan’s leading producer of wetsuits for marine sports, in the creation of small hand pouches. Mobby Dick is located in the port city of Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture, a city with a vibrant wetsuit industry. In 2013 Mobby Dick is celebrating its 50th year in business. The company began as a supplier of diving equipment to the local fishermen, but today its operations center on the production of custom-made wetsuits. In the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011, Mobby Dick suffered the loss of its warehouse in the tsunami, along with the total loss of an affiliate’s factory, but it moved swiftly to resume operations at its headquarters and factory. The company has also been greatly supportive of efforts to revive local enterprises, as illustrated by its creation of employment opportunities by hiring residents of temporary housing to make various fashion accessories using fragments left over during the production of wetsuits.