Masayo's Stories

It’s the third anniversary since my Grandma passed away 2 years ago.In Buddhism, the year when someone passes away is counted as 1 year.September also has equinoctial week (Ohegan - when we welcome our ancestors to come back to our would and celebrate together).We believe that around 20th September, our world and their world are the closest in distance. We reconnect.We normally put a lantern in front of our house to make sure that their spirits come back to us safely. I just found that my wisteria was blossoming this morning. I remember full blossom wisteria were everywhere in my...

My hometown was and still is surrounded by rice fields that seem to go on forever. When spring comes, all of a sudden our neighbours and workmen from our village gather together and start working in the field.    They wear their own Rice Field uniforms and wrap with old aprons. All different types of check and stripes were mixed together and the crosshatch collection of fields became very lively. As soon as I see stripes and check it reminds me of my hometown. My sister and I used to watch and enjoy the smell of fresh and burned grass.   When summer comes the rice...

The way of expressing my Japanese culture is to mix structure and softness in textures. I don't really think about it much but it must have always been in my subconscious.  In Japan, most girl's school uniform skirts were pleated when I was young.I loathed the pleated skirt at that time and we thought it was cool to make the skirt longer. (I got in trouble by my teacher for doing it)    Now I like pleated skirts.The asymmetrical cut in my designs must be coming from Kimono layering. Even though the Kimono itself is symmetrical, the layering cloth often shows a slight unbalance in my eye. It can...

My 18 year old daughter graduated high school last year.She is taking a 6 month gap year at the moment and is due to go to university to study Industrial Design at QUT.It sounded all good and my daughter has been chilling at home every day and having a good time.No rush to go to school any more .. No need for her to iron her school uniform nor making her lunch..(Although most of the time I used to make her lunch..) Sleeping until lunch time. So I don't necessarily see her during the weekdays.Are your teen children the same?...

Deconstructed and aged with nature Last year when I re-visited the Monju Mountain near my hometown in Fukui village, everything seemed to remain the same as I had remembered when I was a little girl. I wonder how many people have visited this mountain in the last 30 years?  As soon as I step onto this mountain, the smell and sounds suddenly takes me back to my childhood, playing in this magical bush mountain. The thickness of the leaves underfoot show me the passage of time.  It is the same forest, but somewhat aged and deconstructed.  Is it me or...

We have just moved to South Brisbane! This week, we have just moved to our new studio at South Brisbane. It took a while for us to find this space which can keep our 11 meter long cutting table. We have painted the cutting table with fresh white and are now ready to take it to the new place.  This is our 25th year since rossbasketballtournament started and I feel that it's a new chapter for all of us. Hopefully we will introduce our new premises once we settle in the next few weeks. Over the years, our rossbasketballtournament family has grown and...

Some of you may have already heard that we are going to move our studio soon. My team members and I have been here for three years on the south side of Brisbane in . This is our second studio since the flooding in 2011. It's a quite large industrial space and is a convenient location for all of our team members. We have been a fashion house as well as a manufacturer since we started in 1999.    Over the last 24 years, we have grown, and shrunk and grown again. The shape of rossbasketballtournament has been changed and moulded as we have evolved, and...

After my first trip to Japan in 3 years, I am now fully recharged.All the things we experienced in Japan I saw with fresh eyes.I almost feel like I have visited a new world. Now, with just a few weeks till my Autumn collection deadline, I'm planning to change and adjust the range at the last minute. All the things I have seen and experienced in Japan, will now be incorporated into my designs. I can't wait to share it all with you soon.