From time to time we ask users of The New Shopping Bag about their life. For this edition we take you to Portugal. What you probably don’t know is that the premiere of our first factory made collection took place in Porto in 2003. We were part of a 2 weeks exhibition at Maus Hábitos, where for the very first time we showed and sold copies of The New Shopping Bag that were not handmade by Susan herself.
Fourteen years later, Out To Lunch is a lovely boutique that stocks The New Shopping Bag in Porto. It’s our pleasure to take a plunge into the deep with Yoske Nishiumi, the Japanese expat running the store.
Describe yourself in three words.
Intuitive, optimistic, forgetful.
Where are you now?
Inside my store ‘Out To Lunch’ in downtown Porto, Portugal.
Tell us something about you and The New Shopping Bag.
Our recent weekend pleasure is to go to the fish market at the harbour of Matosinhos, which is about a 15 minutes drive away from city centre of Porto. It’s a beautiful architecture from 1946 where you can buy fresh local fishes and vegetables. We always bring our cooler box and The New Shopping Bag.
Tell us something about Susan.
I admire her very much as a designer who continued her vision only with a single product for more than 15 years.
What ecological measures would you take if you ruled the world?
For any reason, the first thing I would do is to ban TV.
How do you brighten up your existence?
For me the most important thing is to be real to myself and trust in it. When I am honest and natural I can be in a colourful flow.
How important is colour for you in your work?
Colour stimulates creativity and that makes our life more fun.
Which music have you been listening to recently?
I spend quite some time listening to Radio Quantica, Onomichi Radio and Worldwide FM, either streaming or on Mixcloud. Otherwise I was listening to these at home last night: Don Cherry/Latif Khan ‘Music/Sangam’, Eric Dolphy ‘Out There’ and Haruomi Hosono ‘Pacific’.
What is your biggest loss?
I forget about it.
What is your ultimate destination?
Since I left Japan in 2000 I haven’t had any plans neither goals. I just followed the things what seemed to be fun for me at that time. And that led me to a life in Berlin, mostly organising events, and now in Porto, running a store with my girlfriend. I think I have been living my final destination all the time since I left Japan. But one thing I realised is that my family name Nishiumi means West Ocean in Japanese, and Portugal is THE west ocean if you look from Far East Japan. I think now is the final destination for me as always.
Follow Out To Lunch on Instagram.
Header photo by Pedro de Passos
Other photo by Nuno Vieira