When we no longer refer to people with disabilities as "disabled people," humanity will surely move forward. [Mizuno Manabu x Matsuda Takaya and Fumito]

Matsuda Takaya (hereinafter, Takaya): Actually, I just went to France the other day.

Mizuno Manabu (hereinafter Mizuno): That's nice (laughs).

Takaya: During my month-long visit to various places, I had many opportunities to talk with people from companies. During that time, the philanthropy team asked me, "Why doesn't your company operate as a non-profit?"

So when I heard the idea of ​​"HERALBONY as a research institute" that Mr. Mizuno mentioned last time ( see the first part here ), it really hit home. In addition to the profit-making activities that we have accumulated so far as a corporation, I thought it would be good to have non-profit activities that research the talents and happiness of people with disabilities. I think it would be good if those two things were combined like the front and rear wheels of a bicycle to move forward.

Mizuno: That's great.

Fumito: On the other hand, I usually live in Iwate (laughs). The other day I went to the Miyazawa Kenji Memorial Museum to accompany a certain person, and I felt that HERALBONY's ideas and values ​​are very close to those of Miyazawa Kenji.

Mizuno: From Paris and Iwate (laughs).

Fumito: Miyazawa Kenji wrote a book called "An Introduction to Farmer's Art," in which he wrote that "individual happiness is impossible unless the overall happiness of society is realized." In it, he earnestly preaches the meaning of pursuing the happiness of all, and within his philosophy there is agriculture, minerals, the universe, and religion. It is a grand worldview. Unfortunately, he passed away at the age of just 37 before he could realize "overall happiness," but he was a man who thought deeply about and practiced "overall happiness" from every aspect.

HERALBONY was born in Hanamaki, Iwate, just like Kenji Miyazawa. While listening to Mr. Mizuno's talk, I was thinking how wonderful it would be if HERALBONY could take over the research he continued and start an initiative to elucidate "disabilities," "art," and "overall happiness" here in Tohoku.

Mizuno: It's true that Miyazawa Kenji's presence is huge in Iwate.

My son is now a first-year high school student. He's somewhere between a child and an adult. He has a kind of "incomplete brilliance" that people who have completely become adults don't have. It's like a "brilliance" that all humans have. I think Kenji Miyazawa was a person who carried that kind of brilliance throughout his life.

Fumito: There is a quote from Kenji Miyazawa that goes, "Eternally incomplete, this is completion." The moment you think, "This is completion," your thinking stops. I want HERALBONY itself to remain incomplete forever. I don't know if it's really the right answer to take the form of a "corporation." I want it to continue as an experimental entity, preaching new values ​​to society.

Mizuno: I think it would be great to create something like a "HERALBONY Lab" as a research facility.

Takaya: I'd like to launch it in Europe, like France or Switzerland.

Fumito: No, it would be Hanamaki (laughs).

Takaya: There's a reason why I went to France. Recently, HERALBONY was selected as one of the 18 finalists for the LVMH Innovation Award 2024, an award established by LVMH, the world's largest conglomerate that owns fashion houses such as Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior, to recognize innovative startups from around the world. We were the first Japanese company to be selected, and also won the "Employee Experience, Diversity & Inclusion" category award. We just announced the other day that we will be establishing a base in Paris.
Takaya: I feel that the "sense of fashion" that HERALBONY has valued since its founding has naturally been accepted in France as "interesting." It's hard to believe, but when I visited the Louis Vuitton office there, I had the chance to give a quick presentation to Pharrell William. He is a very famous person who serves as the creative director of Louis Vuitton. It was only about five minutes, but I was really happy to receive such strong words of sympathy.

If HERALBONY is to succeed in the world in the future, I think it will not be a matter of "economy" but a matter of "values". In other words, I think that the DEI and D&I that are being talked about so much these days will be evidence that they have been accepted as a set of values ​​in the true sense of the word. For that reason, HERALBONY is now taking on the world.

Mizuno: That's great, I think that's what makes it cool.

Takaya: To achieve that, I want to take on a big challenge that will generate positive and negative reactions from all over the world. I want to not only receive praise, but also generate negative reactions. By doing so, I think we can reach a new level as humanity that has never been reached before.

Mizuno: Yes, as HERALBONY continues to play an active role in various fields, there will inevitably be negative reactions. If the negative reactions are truly painful, then they should be painful, but if they are not, then I think it's best to move forward while skillfully embracing them.

Fumito: Now we talk about "the world," but when we first started the company, we didn't have such grand dreams. We just thought, "It would be nice if I could make a living from this." From there, we had various encounters and opportunities, and our dreams gradually got bigger. I think investors in particular helped to raise our perspective. We also received letters from parents of children living in welfare facilities for the disabled. All of these things piled up like layers of rock, and we gradually grew into bigger dreams, thinking, "It would be wonderful if we could become like this."

Mizuno: I think twins are cool, aren't they? They look like the lion-dog statues at a shrine (laughs). But first of all, HERALBONY is a "cool" piece of work, regardless of whether it's art by people with disabilities or not. I really think so.

Takaya: That's right. It was important to us that the work be "cool" in the first place. When I first saw the work of a person with a disability, I had an intuition that if this work was displayed in the show window of the National Art Center, Tokyo or a department store in a prime location, it would naturally spread throughout society. There was no need to change the work at all, and its appeal would be conveyed enough as it is. That's what I thought.

I am often asked, "How do you train your artists?" But to begin with, it would be presumptuous to say that we "train" them, and we really don't do anything. We just change the frames, get a professional to write a curatorial commentary, and make other arrangements. We never say anything or make any changes to the original artworks themselves.

Mizuno: Rather, I think they probably feel like this is the place where they're being nurtured.

Takaya: That's exactly right. HERALBONY is in the position of providing food and raising the artists. As the number of HERALBONY employees increases, the prices of the artists' works also increase, so in that sense, we are a company that depends on the artists. In the traditional welfare framework, the artists would be the "people receiving support," but in this completely opposite structure, we are the ones who are "receiving support."

Mizuno: I think there are a lot of organizations and events related to disabilities in the world. And they are very "kind". But HERALBONY is not just "kind" - it's "cool". I feel that it also has other elements such as "beauty" and "strength".

Of course, there is an element of "kindness" in what the artist brings to the table. I have not seen many examples of the people who manage and distribute the work being not only "kind" but also "cool" and "dignified". This may be a major factor in HERALBONY's acceptance in society.

Fumito: I think that the rebranding project that Mizuno-san undertook has made a big step forward. When updating the logo, Mizuno-san's goal was to be "dignified and authentic." He said that he wanted to create a brand that would make people feel "this is cool" or "this is cool" even if they don't know the background of HERALBONY, and that would make them want to ask people around them "Do you know this?"

Takaya: Since we rebranded, the attitude within the company has changed significantly. Whenever we create or release a new product, we ask ourselves, "Is this really okay? Is it worthy of HERALBONY?" Discussions have become more lively, and I feel that the overall quality of our output has improved greatly. It's not just that our logo has changed, but that the very personality of the company has changed.

Mizuno: I think the people who gather at HERALBONY are not just people who like "kindness," but also people who like "cool." That's why I think they were able to go with the flow well even after the rebranding. Otherwise, they would have had to start by asking, "What is cool?" But HERALBONY is not like that. I think this is proof that "cool" has been firmly inside them from the beginning. They have a philosophy, they are consistent, and there is a "coolness" in the way they live as a company. And the things they actually do and express are also "cool." Because everyone gathered there because they fell in love with it, they immediately resonated with each other and have a high level of passion.

Takaya: After all, regardless of SDGs or DEI, I think that for HERALBONY to stand out on the world stage, it is absolutely necessary that people feel "that's cool!" within 0.1 seconds of seeing the work. Even if people who buy HERALBONY products don't know that the art is made by people with disabilities, if more people buy them, it will mean that the world is moving forward.

Mizuno: Yes, I think that's true.

Takaya: The other day, I had the opportunity to have dinner with wheelchair tennis player Kunieda Shingo. He told me that the first time Kunieda's achievements were featured in the newspaper, it wasn't in the "sports" section, but in the "welfare" section. This continued for many years.

The first time HERALBONY was featured in a newspaper in Iwate, it was in the "welfare section," and it's been there ever since. We've come this far because of social trends such as "empowerment for people with disabilities," "DEI," and "SDGs." We've grown thanks to those words. But eventually, we want to go beyond the "welfare section." We want to be praised in the business and design world not just for "doing something good," but for "being cool."

Mizuno: Disabilities are not neatly divided into "disabled" and "non-disabled," but rather there is a gradation. I think there is a line drawn between what level of disability you can receive assistance for and what level you can't, but that is just for convenience.

Although the sports are called "wheelchair tennis" or "chair rugby," they have their own rules and are completely separate sports, and many people enjoy them as such. In other words, they transcend categories such as "tennis" and "rugby."

In the same way, I think HERALBONY should transcend the category of "art by people with disabilities." Rather than just "disabled XXX," HERALBONY should become its own category.

Fumito: I would like to be like that. I want to easily transcend the category of "disabled person ◯◯."