Otakara NYC Hand-Stitches Traditional Artwork onto Engineered Garments' Hardwearing Apparel
A limited edition capsule soon available at NEPENTHES NY.
Engineered Garments‘ hardwearing apparel is driven more by a desire to recreate workwear silhouettes with functional, elevated fabrics than an aim to achieve some level of rarified artisanal wares. Still, the New York-based brand still appreciates a good bit of hands-on craft, inspiring its forthcoming pop-up with Satoshi Suzuki’s Otakara NYC.
Normally, Suzuki balances his time working with and for interior design specialists like Aesthetic Movement Showroom and SHOPPE OBJECT, but one year ago, the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to things and he sequestered at home in New York. While scrolling around the internet one day, a hand-embroidered chambray shirt caught his eye, a garment that recalled the hippie style clothing he wore as a youth. Suzuki began searching for similar examples, but was disappointed to see that most hand-stitched garments were either cheaply-made or inordinately pricey, inspiring him to take matters into his own hands.
Experimenting on his own shirt collection — including pieces from Engineered Garments — Suzuki began stitching out Japanese and Native American-inspired designs drawn from his own sketches, which took on additional depth after being washed, worn and reinforced. The joy that resulted from giving his old garments new life spurred Suzuki to create a new brand: Otakara (“treasure” in Japanese) NYC.
NEPENTHES New York provided Suzuki with a series of deadstock EG shirts and jackets to elevate with his newfound technique; all of the one-off embroidered products will soon be available at a pop-up store, to be held at NEPENTHES NY‘s garment district flagship in the coming weeks. Keep an eye on the store’s Instagram page for more information.
NEPENTHES New York most recently introduced a series of charitable wall clocks.
