The story behind Mind Vault Tech Wave

Aiko Murakami opened Mind Vault Tech Wave in the spring of 2019 from a small studio apartment in Daikanyama, Tokyo. She had spent the previous six years as a pattern cutter for a mid-size swimwear label in Shibuya, where she learned how to build a garment that holds its shape in salt water and still looks considered on a sun-lounger. What she could not learn there was patience. The label moved fast, restocked everything, and treated fabric as a cost to be minimised. She left in January 2019 and spent three months visiting mills in Kyoto and one in Como before cutting a single pattern.

Aiko Murakami trained as a pattern cutter at Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo, graduating in 2013. She spent six years at a Shibuya-based swimwear label before leaving in January 2019 to start Mind Vault Tech Wave. The first collection was photographed in Hayama on a grey October morning. She sources fabric in person, travelling to Kyoto twice a year and to Como once. On quiet mornings she plays Ryuichi Sakamoto records while she cuts. Her regular, Yuki, has been ordering since the second collection and still emails to ask which new pieces will suit a Bali trip.