Don't communicate with words alone, but with everything you see.
What kind of response did you get when you actually started "Slow Tempo" as a restaurant?
Onodera:Now, more local people than I had expected are coming to visit us. I was a bit surprised at this. My friends also come by to visit me, and I am able to enjoy communication with them here, which is different from when I had my office in Shibuya. I really enjoy working here every day.
Have you noticed any changes in your "slow tempo"?
Onodera:The brands we carry remain the same, but I feel that the presence of "Slow Tempo" has created a new axis for our selection and the worldview of "Maple". It is the same with the secondhand clothes we sell, but now we can more easily convey our ideas about what we are doing through all of the items here without having to explain it in words. In terms of promotion, I think I was able to embody the worldview I like with "Slow Tempo.
Can you tell us again about the roots of "Maple"?
Onodera:I started Maple in 2003 when I launched the company. I have been doing this for about 19 years now. The reason behind this is an experience I had when I was a backpacker in my early 20s, traveling around the U.S. with a backpack of about 100 liters on my back for about three months, taking buses from the West Coast to Seattle and further south, from New Mexico to Santa Fe in the interior. That was my first trip to the U.S., which I had been longing to do since I was a little girl.
I see that the scene at that time had an influence on "Maple".
Onodera:That's right. Nowadays, it is easy to get a sense of American life and fashion through SNS, but back then, you had to go there to understand the true atmosphere, so I was shocked. At the same time, I was impressed by the lifestyle of the people living there. They were smiling in the morning and taking a dip in the ocean, and they seemed to feel really good. I wanted to live like them. "Maple" is a word I coined by shortening the word "mellow people. The idea of doing casual, everyday clothing that matches that scene continues to this day, and the resources come from my experiences on the road.
What do you want to do with "Slow Tempo" in the future?
Onodera:We would like to actively hold pop-ups and other events. We created this space to be a place where various people can interact with each other. I have a friend who is a farmer in my hometown, and I have had him bring me vegetables picked in the morning at previous pop-up events, which was a lot of fun. In this way, I would like to communicate through a crossover between what my friends are doing and what I am proposing, and I would like to hold events and promotions that are possible only in Komazawa and Setagaya.
