Vol.35

Interview with President Abe and Representative Ikeuchi on the secret story behind the production of their latest work, Organic 960, Part 2

In the second part of the interview, he talks about the production of "Organic 960," the first new towel in two years, which was commercialized by the Abe/Ikeuchi duo, as well as about President Abe's ideas and principles important for organic business management, which he realized based on his own vegan experience. Please enjoy the final part of this long interview. Click here for Part 1 | Click here for Part 2

Abe, Ikeuchi

I can finally concentrate on manufacturing

–What is the most important thing you want to do now that you are the president?

Ikeuchi: I really don’t like management at all. That is why I can finally concentrate on manufacturing. I feel that I have not been able to do enough manufacturing for the past 33 years.

–Speaking of monozukuri, I heard that Representative Ikeuchi decided on the concept for the new Organic 960 series that went on sale in June, and President Abe decided on the colors and created the product. What kind of product is the 960 and who do you want to use it?

Ikeuchi: The 960 is an extension of our basic product, the (organic) 120. Well, in that aspect, what we can do next year may be different, but from 120 to 732, we have presented various types of textures that can be achieved with organic materials, and I think that 960 is where we have taken 120 to its fullest potential in every aspect.

–Do you want IKEUCHI enthusiasts to use 960?

Ikeuchi: I think that people who have been using our brand for a long time can see that it is one of growth and evolution.

The color scheme that we have been developing for a long time is the color of animal hair

–How about you, Mr. Abe?　How do you feel when you actually see the product for which you were in charge of the 960 color scheme?

Abe: I wanted to express more fluctuation in the colors. I used color chips to create the colors, and I thought that this much shading would bring out more fluctuation, but I couldn’t tell, especially for the beige and ivory. So I thought it was okay to make more difference. But the colors are deep. It’s better than normal post-dyeing, because the colors are different depending on the angle you look at them. If I could redo it again…

(without pause)

Ikeuchi: I wouldn’t redo it!

(Everyone laughs)

Abe: If we were to come up with a new color, the idea I’ve been working on for a long time is animal hair. Animal hair. There is a product made by another company that matches the colors taken from our prairie dogs, and the colors are really good. So, if you take colors from nature and match them with fluctuations, you can get a very gentle color, which is very nice. I think that’s what we can achieve.

I am always scolded by the representative for not looking at this point, but I think about it on my desk, using Excel or Irregular ( *1) color schemes, but that is thinking with my mind, so I should take the source from nature, and Straits also takes colors from natural wave patterns, which are no match for nature, so I should have taken colors from nature and thought about it. I now reflect on what I should have done.

IKEUCHI ORGANIC is not going in the direction I thought it would.

–Ikeuchi: Do you have any advice or orders for President Abe?

Ikeuchi: Well, there was a man from Matsushita Electric Works named Shinjiro Minami who taught me everything about business. I thought he would praise me if the sales went up or down, but he got very angry with me. He said, “You are planning too loosely because you think it’s okay if you miss the mark. Also, (Mr. Minami) was also the head of manufacturing, so he told me, “Good things don’t last and bad things don’t last, so when things are good, bad things happen, and when things are bad, good things happen, so you have to think about manufacturing based on that premise. I didn’t understand it at the time, but now that I look back, I see that he was right.

IKEUCHI ORGANIC in particular is not going in the direction I thought it would. In the past 17 years, things have always turned out well after one year, but not in the direction I thought they would. That’s why I enjoy it. That’s why I enjoy watching how (the company) moves forward.

However, I was going to join the company on February 11, 1983, the 30th anniversary of the company’s founding, but the previous president passed away on February 4, 1983, so at the funeral, I said, “I will take over as president,” and it was very good that I could do it with no succession at all. If he did not die suddenly, I thought it would be best if I could take over and give advice while he was still in good health. Unfortunately, he did not die suddenly ( *2), so I decided to take over while he was still in good health.

–I think it was decided a long time ago that the representative would hand over to President Abe.

Ikeuchi: Because we had no choice!　There was absolutely no way to bring in someone from the outside. Especially, the person who would raise my children (IKEUCHI products) would have to be someone who knows what is going on.

–You are sure that if it was President Abe, he would not make a mistake in IKEUCHI ORGANIC’s direction?

Ikeuchi: Yes, yes. So now that he has become president, I expect him to return to being a vegan as soon as possible, and to be as stoic as he looks (laughs).

Ask your mind about your body, and ask your customers about the operation of your company.

Abe: Vegans were experimenting (laughs). After all, there are various theories, aren’t there? Some are macrobiotic ( macrobiotic*3), some are vegan, etc. There are many theories in the organic world. There are also many theories in the organic world. There are also many theories in the world of agriculture. Right now, there are many theories, and everyone is fighting against each other. This is a strange scheme, isn’t it? So I started to experiment and see which theory would be supported.

I started to experiment with veganism, and I found that I lost weight and body fat, but my skin became dry and itchy. I thought it might be because of the chemical soap, so I changed the soap, but it didn’t get much better.

There is no one right way to do it. If you listen to your body, it is probably the most correct way. If you do what is pleasing to your heart, you will be healthy, and in agriculture, you should listen to the soil. Ask the soil and it will give you the answer. That is the principle of my idea.

There is no end to organic enterprises.

–Finally, President Abe, do you have any message for your fans about what you want to do in the future, or what you will do for your fans?

Abe: There are many ways to think about the organic path. For example, just as there is no end to the concept of maximum safety and minimum environmental impact, I think there is no end to organic companies either. If you think about it from that angle, are your current actions in line?　If you ask me, probably not in some areas. Every company. I believe that bringing it as close to that as possible is a corporate effort and growth. So, if there is a gap between your idea of an organic company or product and our products or information, we would like to know about it. I believe that it is the mission of a company to improve upon that.

–In what ways can we absorb your opinions?

We can receive scolding or emails, and when we hold events in stores to convey our ideas, we can also receive feedback on the spot. If you have any questions or comments, we would like to hear from you immediately, even if we can’t ask you on the spot. We are not able to provide 100% answers to all such questions, so I think this is a point for us to improve. There are things we can do immediately and things we can’t do immediately, but we would like to accumulate such feedback and prioritize what we can and can’t do in order to make our company closer to our ideal.

Interview June 2016
Interview and text by Mutaguchi and Kamio
Photographer/ Yuji Kimura (Kimura Photo Office)

Notes
*1：Adobe Illustrator Industry standard graphic design software
*2: Representative Ikeuchi had a health problem that forced him to take an extended leave of absence at the beginning of 2016, but he recovered and returned to work.
*3: A method of longevity through a diet consisting mainly of traditional foods and crops from the place of residence. Dietary methods include brown rice vegetarian diet, grain vegetarian diet, natural diet, etc.