Ryoji Homma: In addition to his work as a stylist, he is the designer of "BROWN by 2-tacs" and the owner of its directly managed store, "The Fhont Shop. This is his second year living in the mountains.
In mountain living, there are only three pairs. One of them is Brandstone.
Mr. Homma lives in the mountains, where there are no more houses, at the end of a steep and narrow slope that would frighten anyone without a 4WD. The villa, which used to be a painter's studio, overlooks the sea, and the windows of the cluttered living room are open. Homma makes pasta with freshly picked tomatoes and arranges bell peppers, cut from their branches, in a vase.
Splitting wood is a fall and winter job. In summer, it contains humidity, so it does not split crisply. And the combination of these shorts and "Brand Stone" is Mr. Fujimon's style, which led to Mr. Homma's purchase of "Brand Stone. Long socks are the rule.
Bricks are in the process of being laid in front of the stairs to go down to the field where preparations for winter vegetables have started. If you go around the back of the house through the yuzu and chestnut trees, you will find a woodworking shop and lumber yard, and while I was photographing the woodcutters, it was raining. It's always like this these days," he said. It will stop soon," he said, and soon the sun came out again.
In the mountains, Mr. Homma says, "I almost only wear these three pairs of shoes. After careful consideration and selection of the shoes he needed, he was left with only the "Nashville" by Birkenstock for casual trips to the garden, boots by Le Chameau for hard work, and the "550" by Brandstone, which he wears most often.
He came across the "550" when he was looking for a shoe that he could love for a long time when working in the mountains.
There is an outdoorsman named Hiroshi Fujimon who translates Shaker Furniture books and is himself a woodworker. He lives in Hokkaido, and I've never met him, but I sometimes read his blog. There, he introduced a pair of "550s" that he had worn, and I thought they looked cool. I thought it was cool. He was wearing them with shorts, like a ranger in an American national park, and I thought, "I want to style them like that, too! I wanted to do the same thing! Many outdoorsmen are very particular about their gear, so when Fujimon-san says, "I bought the same one again," I knew I was in the right place.
A field spread out in front of the house. When I visited, bright red peppers were just ripening.
Homma's side-gore boots, purchased at the same time he began living in the mountains and worn for two years, are beautifully stained and have become his own unique pair with age.
It doesn't sag as much as I thought it would. The fluorine treatment seems to have a waterproof effect, so I thought the surface finish would wear off soon, but it doesn't get waterlogged at all. I tried to improve it to make it a little tougher, and I reinforced it by putting leather on it myself. I wanted to make a good tool my own. I like it so much that I end up doing a lot of work on it (laughs). But the good thing about these shoes is that they are easy to wear, so I prefer them the way they are.
In fact, Mr. Honma uses cooking oil when he should be using a special oil for maintenance. Imitation is prohibited.
Mr. Homma's criteria for selecting "things" are, above all, toughness and longevity. He uses good quality products and maintains them properly. However, he does not do anything special. If it gets muddy, he walks through the grass to remove the dirt, and then smears it with olive oil that has oxidized and is no longer usable for cooking. In this way, the "tools" that blend into daily life are what is needed for mountain living. If you take good care of them, you can put them on the next morning and be in a good mood," he says, smiling.
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