Motohiro
Tanji

Motohiro staged a runway show at Amazon Fashion Week in Tokyo in 2017, and has established his own knitwear label since graduating from NTU.

What made you choose to study at NTU?
“Before studying fashion knitwear design at NTU, I studied fashion design in Japan.  Following that, I wanted to learn more about knitwear design. I did my research on universities in the UK offering knitwear design where I discovered NTU and Central Saint Martins. I checked out both graduate collections, and felt that NTU had a more technical approach in knitting as compared to Central Saint Martins. Therefore, I chose NTU.”

What did you enjoy most about your course?
“I graduated from both the graduate diploma course and Masters course at NTU. I’d never studied knitwear design before, so I needed to study the basic knitting techniques on the graduate diploma course first. I enjoyed my basic knitting lectures most. During my Masters course, I found the tutorials were the most useful for me. Every week, I showed the progress of my project to my tutor, and looked forward to the advice I’d receive.”

What did you think about the course staff?
“The course staff were really kind. I liked all my lecturers and tutors.”

What did you think about the art and design facilities available to you?
“I think the knitting facilities at NTU are the best in the UK. There are many industrial knitting machines here.”

As an international student, what did you like about studying and living in Nottingham?
“When I was in Japan, there were many temptations there. In the UK, I didn’t have that many friends which was good for me as I could concentrate on studying. I think this is an advantage of being an international student.”

How has your career developed since leaving NTU?
“I worked at Acorn Conceptual Textiles in Nottingham after I graduated, as their knitted swatch designer. It was a really nice place to learn about knitting techniques and creation. Following that, I started my own label.”

What does your current job involve?
“My main work is to run my knitwear design brand. I also design knitwear and knitted textiles for other companies, and I teach knitting in my knitting school in Japan.”

Were there any challenges along the way, and how did you overcome them?
“Continuing my own brand is really hard. I always need to think about my brand and what I need to do every day. It’s also very difficult to guess what may happen next. Therefore, I just handle my work on a case-by-case basis.”