Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 04/Aug 14:42

Trini costume designer inspired by autumn in Japan

WHAT started off as assisting her parents in the family business making Kiddies Carnival costumes for the neighbourhood children in her hometown of Belmont, Port of Spain, would eventually take Apphia Pereira on a creative journey to places like Los Angeles, California, and most recently, Japan. As the sole Trini designer on the Soca in Japan (SIJ) team for its Japan Caribbean Carnival (JCC) event, now in its second year, Pereira has created designs that reflect the cultures of these two seemingly contrasting countries. Pereira spoke to Newsday about her inspiration for this year’s design and her road to realising her childhood dream of becoming a designer. Despite being an integral part of Pereira and Pereira and Associates Kiddies Carnival band as a child, founded by her mother, the 33-year-old went on to study law and not art. “I grew up doing everything for everybody,” she said. “I became a lawyer (and did) everything I thought I had to to make sure my family was happy. For years I knew I wanted to get into the creative field, but I could not balance everything.” Pereira described her mother as a creative powerhouse who worked tirelessly to provide for her family and her community. Her mother, a former acting director in the Social Welfare Division (SWD) of the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services, used the family’s Kiddies Carnival business to bring the community together. [caption id="attachment_1100402" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Apphia Periera's designs for Soca In Japan. -[/caption] “It was an attempt to make sure people in the community could learn. (The band) was about building the community through Carnival.” She said the family would even give away free costumes. “It was not very profitable but that was what my mom wanted. “I watched her work so hard and then in 2017, within two months of getting the promotion, she got sick. I watched her deteriorate for seven to eight months before she died of cancer and in that moment, I felt like I watched this woman, who worked so hard to get all the things she wanted to provide for her family, live her life for everybody else and I didn’t want that for myself.” Pereira said after her mother died on October 16 of that year, she applied for the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) programme in November and was accepted. Reflecting on that time, Pereira said it was a hard year for her as she also lost her grandmother on the first of the same month and her brother-in-law earlier that year in January. She said she had always been interested in moving to Japan at some point, and while studying law at the University of the West Indies she would see the programme being advertised around campus. [caption id="attachment_1100398" align="alignnone" width="853"] TT Soca In Japan costume designer Apphia Pereira. -[/caption] “(My mother) kind of knew I wouldn’t have left for Japan knowing she was sick, but she encouraged me anyway and after she died I decided to go through with it.” Even as she dabbled in other careers, her passion for the arts remained. “I have always loved art. I am really good at sculpting (and) I won a cosplay competition that sent me to Los Angeles to learn cinema makeup. I also did photoshop and sculpting courses and I want to do more in that realm of SFX (special effects) makeup.” The cosplay competition Pereira won was the Decibel Entertainment Expo Cosplay Competition in 2017. She also worked for production company KDK after a friend brought her on as a wire bender, but she would eventually try her hands at other aspects of costume design, including feather work and gemming. She also assisted designer Kwesi McDonald, travelling with his team to other islands for work. She said, “When I started work in Japan, I thought that was the end of that, then I got here and saw SIJ and decided to try it. [caption id="attachment_1100403" align="alignnone" width="1024"] A TT Soca In Japan costume. -[/caption] “The first year was a bust,” she said as she laughed at the memory. “Nobody bought the costume. It wasn’t even a costume, because this was before JCC, so it was just something (participants) could wear to the parties. But, I wore it to the events and people loved it and I was like, ‘Yea, I’m really good at this. I know,’” she joked. This year’s JCC theme is Shiki, the Japanese word for the four seasons. The design team consists of four people, including Japanese head designer Yakami Yamamoto who designed the winter and summer sections, respectively named Sekka, meaning snowflake, and Hanabi, meaning firework. Pereira’s section was inspired by autumn. The fourth section, named Sakura which means cherry blossom, was a collaborative effort between two new Japanese designers to the team. Pereira said since moving to Japan five years ago, autumn has been her favourite season. She currently lives in Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture since September, but has also lived in Ehime Prefecture. “I love autumn and I asked for that section. Autumn is so bright and colourful. The trees look like they are on fire.” She said in her approach to conceptualising the design, she chose a word that she felt best reflected the season. “I chose a word then use that word to influence the design. My word was Koyo which means the changing colours during the seasons.” She said she wanted her costume to reflect the shifting of colours that happens as the country transitions from summer to autumn. “I moved to Osaka in September last year (but) when I was living in Ehime, there was a huge gingko tree on my route and I loved it when it was bright yellow. In Osaka I saw images gingko leaves everywhere and I saw it as a sign. Pereira said although most people associate the season with maple leaves, for her gingko leaves are a better representation of autumn in Japan as it is culturally significance to the country. The gingko tree’s trademark yellow leaves are the season’s biggest attraction, with many parks offering viewings and other events under its towering shade. “I decided to find materials that played with that. My backpacks are all colour changing. When people see it in the sun it changes so much and they are surprised. I was adamant about getting certain materials so I can get that shifting-colour effect.” She said she used the gingko leaf motif throughout her design to give the appearance of falling leaves. She said while her piece looks more like a traditional Trini Carnival costume, the Japanese influence is there in this motif. “A Japanese guy even commented (on social media) that my costume looks like traditional Japanese floral arrangements (called ikebana). I feel fulfilled knowing that I still had Japanese culture within my piece.” Pereira said the goal of SIJ is to find a meeting point between Japanese and TT cultures and she feels as though the designs this year have represented this merger well. She commended the Japanese designers for making a continuous effort to blend the two cultures. [caption id="attachment_1100401" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Apphia Periera's designs for Soca In Japan. -[/caption] “The design patterns on the (spring) costume are a merger of Trini and Japanese symbolism and was really well done. The word fete is written in kanji font and it is a beautiful (souvenir) to have...The costumes are supposed to be a fusion and we don’t want it to be just be Trini culture showing up in the space. You want Japanese people to still see themselves reflected in the designs.” Although she expressed gratitude for the opportunity to work with the SIJ team and commended the work they have been doing to push the culture in Japan, she thinks it will still take some time and work for JCC to grow in Japan. She commented on a similar Brazilian carnival festival that happens annually in Tokyo, saying, “They have good diplomatic relations and good public relations. They get a whole street cordoned off. We aren’t there yet.” The inaugural JCC took place last year at a secluded race track in the countryside of Chiba Prefecture. [caption id="attachment_1100400" align="alignnone" width="684"] Apphia Periera -[/caption] “I don’t know how the timeline is going to look because we still have a lot of legwork to do. If the people who love the culture work together, maybe we can speed up the process. Imagine, Japan uses our pitch for their roads. We have that connection. Why don’t we have more cultural visibility in this country? Why is it when I mention my country people still don’t know where it is? Only when we have a (more significant) presence as a country, or even as a Caricom network, would I see the Carnival getting bigger and better.” She said in the coming years, as JCC continues to grow, maybe other Trini designers will consider coming to Japan to design. “I think a lot of players back home are keeping their eye on us to see if they can bring their business here but it has to be a (bigger) event. We need to get a street or town that’s interested in learning more and investing in TT culture before TT designers can come and have their costumes paraded through the streets.” The SIJ week of events will take place this year from September 18-21.   The post Trini costume designer inspired by autumn in Japan appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.