Objects of Significance | Atsushi Hasegawa

From the suburbs of Nagoya via Tokyo and Paris to Frome, Atsushi Hasegawa’s journey has been anything but conventional. Drawn to both modern culture and nature from a very early age, his love for music, fashion and fishing are passions that have remained constant. “I grew up in the suburbs of Nagoya. My father was an engineer for Hitachi and we had all the latest electronic products - it was quite an Americanised environment and I was obsessed with anything from the ‘outside’” he explains, “but on the flip side, I could cycle to the countryside in half an hour so I also became very interested in nature. Each year I went to the seaside with my parents, and I would talk to the fishermen. There’s an old sepia picture of when I was maybe five years old. And that’s how I discovered fishing.”

Alongside a love of the outdoors, a burgeoning interest in fashion took him to Tokyo where he worked as an assistant at Japan’s first Vivienne Westwood store before enrolling in a course at Bunka University. “Kenzo, Yohji Yamamoto - they all went there. I was designing womenswear, but really, I was enjoying life - making friends, hanging out with DJ’s and editors I’d met in the shop,” he recalls. “I was less interested in making clothes and more interested in wearing them. Then I met a famous TV producer, so I went to work for him as an assistant.”

A stint as a freelance illustrator followed and he also began DJing, but his enthusiasm for fishing never waned. So immersed was he in the culture that it led him to Paris, to a job at La Maison de la Mouche Dubos, a renowned – now sadly closed - fly fishing shop. “I discovered it through a tiny article - it was a favourite of Charles Ritz, Ernest Hemingway and Coco Chanel,” he says. “I wrote to the owner and they welcomed me like family. So I taught there while at the same time designing for French and Japanese brands.”

It was also in Paris where he met his wife, fashion designer and textile artist Alice Lynch, whose roots were back in Somerset. Eventually the couple moved back with Atsushi taking a job at Clarks. After working there for seven years, a position at The Newt estate, hotel and gardens came up, and he is now creative director. “I can use all of my skills here, from designing to selecting music to fishing. When we arrived, I couldn’t speak English and I had to rebuild my life again, but now it really feels like I’ve found my dream job.”

In Paris, homeownership had never crossed their mind but when they moved to the UK, they bought a small property outside Frome then moved a couple of times before discovering their mid-century house in the centre of town, where they now live with their two teenage daughters and two cats. “It looks like a bungalow from the outside, but actually, it’s two stories and the floors are upside down - the bedrooms are on the ground floor, while the kitchen, living room, and bathrooms are upstairs,’” explains Atsushi. “It’s quite modest but roomy, and to me, it feels very Japanese.” Though the décor throughout is simple, Atsushi has one room to himself, which is filled with treasures. “It’s a bit like a vintage store, which again reminds me a little bit of Tokyo,” he continues. “There’s a couple of thousand records, over 100 fishing rods and a DJ set up. It’s so small I can only invite one person in at a time, but everything I love is here.”

Among the many beloved items is a tiny book, bought in Paris in the 1990s. “I was a French language student at the Sorbonne and one day, while on a break I stumbled upon a book fair near Saint-Germain. As I was scanning the tables there was a gentleman, a poet named John Crombie, who was selling these. The idea is that you can compose a poem by flicking the pages,” says Atsushi, who was intrigued by the book’s diminutive size as well as the unusual concept. “I like the fact that it’s foldable. In Japan, spaces are small so everything is foldable and compact. This was also a period when I was trying to reconnect with myself, and to appreciate things that had nothing to do with trends, or that hadn’t been recommended by a famous editor. This French guy was so kind and so mild mannered while explaining his passion to a random Japanese man, and the passion was infectious.”

Also in Atsushi’s room of treasures are hundreds of fishing flies, collected while working at a shop in Tokyo. “At the time, A River Runs Through It with Brad Pitt had just come out, so every fishing shop in Japan had long queues outside because everyone wanted to learn,” he laughs. “It was a big US store called L.L. Bean, where they sold canoeing, climbing and hunting equipment too, so it wasn’t at all snobby.” A part time employee for four years, alongside his design work he demonstrated fly tying and casting and made hundreds of flies, “some of them good, others, less so. They’re not for use now, but they remind me how challenging it was sometimes, learning on the job, teaching myself from English books when there was no internet. So I kept them as souvenirs.”

Continuing the theme, a collection of wicker fly fishing creels, found at a fishing fair in the French countryside are something Atsushi also holds dear. “When I discovered them, I was fascinated because both American and English designs are rigid and square, whereas these are such a unique shape - more charming, even feminine in a way,” he observes. “They feel like they have an Asian influence, which is interesting, so I began to collect them. Nowadays, fly fishing is catch and release - if you catch a trout, you release it. Instead I use them for carrying my tackle as they’re such beautiful things.”

Equally beautiful are a selection of vintage kimonos that once belonged to Atsushi’s grandmother. “Her name was Take, which means bamboo, and she was a rice farmer her entire life,” he says. “She lost her husband in the war and raised my father and his sister on her own, in a traditional farmhouse in the Japanese countryside. As a child, I spent nearly every weekend there.” During that time, his grandmother always wore a simple worker’s kimono - called a samue – and it wasn’t until she passed away aged 90, that her family discovered the more formal garments, traditionally kept for special occasions. “I never once saw her in them and some were damaged by moths, but now we have maybe 20 or 30, which we brought back from Japan,” he says. “My wife has since inherited them - they’ve become inspiration for her art.”

A fan of a kimono himself, Atsushi is the proud owner of several gowns from TOAST. “I wear the women's styles, which are simpler than traditional Japanese designs of course, but when I tested TOAST’s designs I was amazed as they’re perfect for me in terms of length.” Similarly, he fell in love with the TOAST’s Nila patchwork quilt, crafted from space-dyed, hand woven cotton. “I love the detail, the stitching, and it reminds me of my grandmother’s kimonos,” he adds. “I can see my wife and I on the sofa underneath it, enjoying a film with a nice cup of tea. What living in France taught me was to forget about throw away trends, which is what I was into in Japan. Now I appreciate handmade and vintage pieces - things made with love are so much more interesting.”