I am Japanese but have lived and travelled in many countries during my adult life. Everywhere I go I was touched by how so many people love Japanese culture and products.

One day I was just looking at my kimono in the wardrobe and thought 'how many times I am going to wear this?' and felt sorry for this beautiful precious thing. People in the world love kimono. It may not be easy to wear in everyday life but in a differet style we can appreciate it better. That's how I got this idea about setting up Himé.

I currently live in between London and Dubai with my husband and son.

We travel regularly to Japan to source antique fabrics for our designs. In fact, we use the ‘Obi’ belt fabric from the Kimono outfit, which is much heavier grade than the lightweight kimono material.  These are typically made individually from handwoven silk fabric in Japan.

Each Obi can only produce between 4-10 handbags because of the large pattern designs on the ‘Obi’. As a result, each bag is one of only a limited number of the same design so you might never meet someone with the same bag!