Designer Spotlight: Daisy Balloon

Tokyo-based balloon artist Rie Hosokai and Japanese graphic designer Takashi Kawada have joined forces to create womenswear made from rubber balloons. The balloons are inflated to varying degrees to create the 3D textured result. Imaginative and uplifting, these dresses and accessories reinterpret rubber as a fashionable texture.

Hosokai started her balloon company Daisy Balloon after working as a decorator for a flower shop in her native Japan. Specialising in balloon flowers and decorative objects, Hosokai has competed in and won numerous competitions and demonstrated her techniques across the world.

Her work defies the basic idea of what helium-filled rubber balloons were originally designed to do. Though not meant to last, the colourful creations are an interesting example of incorporating the idea of play into fashion, as this product commonly associated with childhood is effectively reimagined for adult design. 

Daisy Balloon