A circle of friends connected by gut touch! The “FIST BUMP” corner of the radio program “GRAND MARQUEE” features people who live and enjoy Tokyo in a relay format.
On September 19, Ryusuke Eda of the fashion brand “bal” will appear. We asked him about how “bal” came to be what it is today, his mindset for continuing the brand, and the appeal of natural wine and pisto bikes, which he says he is addicted to in his private life.
INDEX
The brand “bal” with a partner who has seen and heard the same things
Celeina (MC): Since this is the first of the week, we welcome by recommendation from the program Mr. Ryusuke Eda of the fashion brand “bal”. First of all, let me introduce his profile. Mr. Eda started “balanceweardesign” in Nakameguro in 1999, and changed the name to bal in 2003. He has participated in international art awards and provided graphic design for CD records and apparel.
Takano (MC): Congratulations on the 20th anniversary of bal this year.
Eda: Thank you very much.
Takano: Some of you may be learning about bal for the first time through this broadcast, so I would like to start by asking what kind of brand bal is.
Eda: Originally, four designers worked together under the name balanceweardesign, but two of them became independent and started another brand.So, I shortened the name and changed it to “bal” because Kabaya, who is now my business partner, and I will be the main directors.
Celeina：What is the brand concept?
Eda: It is a so-called street brand. It is a fusion of graphic design and clothing, and since we were in our impressionable period in the 1990s, we mix influences such as music, clothing, movies, and so on.
Takano: I see. I thought that was really cool.
Eda: Thank you very much.
Celeina：As you mentioned earlier, you are now working with Kentaro Kabaya as your business partner.
Eda：I was introduced to him by a mutual friend in 1998. Kabaya himself was playing in the hip-hop scene, and I was in a band, so we had a lot of fun talking about music. He saw a sample of balanceweardesign that I was wearing and was very impressed, so I introduced him to the then president, and he wanted to work with me.
Celeina：When doing creative work, it is very important to have a partner to work with, isn’t it?
Eda: That’s true.
Celeina：Was there a moment when the feeling was right?
Eda: I guess so. It’s the same with friends, but there are people who get closer unusually quickly when they see things in common. For example, my taste in music, comedy, movies, and so on… I often found that these lifestyles matched with Kabaya’s.
Also, when you are young, you have a lot of time on your hands, so you spend a lot of time together. So we saw the same things, went out to the same places, ate the same food, and so on. To be honest, we are both married, but our relationship is longer than both of our wives (haha).
Celeina: You guys are real partners now.
Eda: We have been together since we were about 19 or 20 years old.
Takano: Well, it’s amazing.
INDEX
We do what we can do because it’s the two of us.
Celeina: I also wanted to ask you, as a creative person, how do you reconcile your ideas when there is a mismatch in what you think, even if it is not a fight?
Eda：Because we are working together, if my idea was the right one, there would be no point in us working together. bal was originally named after the word “bal” on the LR part of a techno mixer called RODEC. It was a mixer from Belgium, so I had never seen it before. I thought that “balance” could be shortened to “bal,” and I thought it would be good if I could be creative by balancing the ideas of left and right, so I decided on the name “bal.
Takano: So the name “bal” includes the value of the relationship between the two of you. But 20 years is a long time. Is there anything that you value in order to keep your brand going for a long time?
Eda： I don’t really have an image of trying to be extremely successful or to sell out in a short period of time, and when I realized it, 20 years had passed rather smoothly. So I think I would like to work for a long time. I think my motivation is positive in that I want to do it slowly and gradually for the 30th and 40th anniversaries. Also, I really think it is thanks to the customers who have been supporting us for a long time.
Takano: You mean you are doing it in a way that is not unreasonable.
Eda: That’s right.
Celeina: You mentioned music earlier, but this Friday, September 22nd, at GARDEN Shinkiba FACTORY, there will also be a bal 20th anniversary event by Rainbow Disco Club. Have you always been involved with Rainbow Disco Club?
Eda:We had wanted to invite Theo Parrish for our 20th anniversary for a long time. However, as you know, the Corona Disaster has made it impossible to access the venue for the past several years, and we are an apparel brand, so we were not sure if we could do it on our own.
One of our staff members, Takekawa, is one half of a DJ duo called Monkey Timers, and he is a good friend of Rainbow Disco Club. So I asked them to let me be a sponsor, and this is what happened.
Takano: Theo Parrish’s visit to Japan has been big news.
Celeina:You may be looking forward to Friday.
Eda: I’m really looking forward to it. 20 years ago, there was a club called “Yellow” in Nishiazabu, and I saw Theo Parrish’s gig there for the first time. And since I, Kabaya, and the guys I was playing with at the time were all there, we all had the same experience.
Takano: Since both Mr. Eda and Mr. Kabaya are artists who have a special place in their hearts, this event is sure to be a fitting one for the 20th anniversary. Now, I asked Mr. Eda to choose one song that he would like everyone to listen to together on the radio at this time.
Eda：There was a party for my friend’s brand “PHINGERIN” in Vancouver a while back, and a DJ named Powder was playing, so I went to hang out with the C.E. (cav empt) crew. There, I was introduced to Pender Street Steppers around the Mood Hut label, which I originally owned records on, and they were both nice guys. So I thought their dub mix, which I also bought their recent new record, would be a good choice for the time slot.
Takano: Thank you very much. Now, please introduce the songs.
Eda: “The Way They Do (Pender Street Steppers Dub Mix)” RTSAK.
INDEX
The importance of a sense of balance in culture outside of work
Celeina: I sent you RTSAK’s “The Way They Do (Pender Street Steppers Dub Mix)” selected by Eda-san. It’s a little boogie-woogie.
Takano: Very cool. I would also like to ask you about the culture you are into outside of work.
Eda：I have been into natural wine since about 10 years ago. I met the people I am going to introduce next, and that is how I got hooked on wine culture. We went to Yamagata together to pick grapes.
Celeina：Serious.
Eda: We went to wineries and were allowed to dip the grapes and make the wine. These people gave me quite interesting experiences. The terraced vineyards on the slopes, with moderate temperatures and direct sunlight, seem to be a very good location for growing grapes, and I was able to learn a lot from them.
Takano: There are many different designs for wine labels. It would be interesting to see how they are designed.
Eda: One of the things that got me hooked on natural wine in particular is that many label makers like music, movies, and other cultural elements. I think it’s cute that they have graphics sampling cultural material on their labels, which is more pop-like than the usual mass-produced wines.
Celeina：I like that. Of course it tastes good, but it is also pleasing to the eye. I’m a little curious about natural wine, but I heard that you are also into something else.
Eda: I have been riding a pisto bike, which is an oval or bicycle race bike made to be ridden on public roads, for about 2007, a crew called MASH in San Francisco proposed a street pisto bike riding style, and I was one of the first to try it. YOPPIY (Yoshifumi Egawa), a designer at the time, introduced it to me, and from there, both Kabaya and I were hooked, riding bicycles like skateboards.
Celeina：Do you use a pisto bike as a means of transportation? Or do you enjoy riding a pisto bike?
Eda: All of them. We would get together at the park to practice tricks, and then go home. We would go out for tea, go to the office, and go to meetings on it.
Celeina: Did you ride your pisto bike here today as well?
Eda: It was hot today, so I didn’t ride it because I didn’t want to go in there all sweaty (haha).
Celeina: You said you were going to practice tricks on a pisto bike.
Eda: I wasn’t that good at tricks, but I practiced the basics like turning backwards, doing wheelies, and braking with my feet. Basically, it’s a fixed bike, and the gears are fixed. So if you pedal forward, you go forward, and if you pedal backward, you go backward, so the power is transmitted directly and there is no waste.
Takano: A sense of balance is important, isn’t it?
Eda: It’s very important.
Takano: Oh, bal.
Eda: Oh!
Celeina: I think we have connected the stories.
Takano: That’s today’s keyword.
Celeina: You introduce your friends to us through “FIST BUMP,” a circle of friends connected by “go-touch.”
Eda：There is a natural wine shop called wineshop human nature in Kabuto-cho, Nihonbashi, and I would like to introduce Shinichi Takahashi and Mikachuu there.
Celeina: In a word.
Eda: I would say original, or rather quite unique.
Takano: Thank you very much, I would like to answer tomorrow. Tomorrow, I will connect you to Shinichi Takahashi and Mikachuu of wineshop human nature, a natural wine specialty store.
Celeina: FIST BUMP, today we welcome Ryusuke Eda of bal. Thank you very much.
GRAND MARQUEE
J-WAVE (81.3FM) Mon-Thu 16:00 – 18:50
Navigator: Shinya Takano, Celeina Ann
