Poche: More Than Hats

August 05, 2022

Walking down the streets of Los Angeles's Little Tokyo, I meet up with Jiro Maestu, the man behind the recognizable brand Poche. As he heads down the flight of stairs that connects the outside to his studio, the space is inconspicuous, never revealing the magic that happens tucked away on the second floor of the building.

Beginning in 2015 as a woman's apparel concept, Maestu found himself studying in Paris and then back in Los Angeles, holding onto the vision that's become the brand's DNA. Officially re-launched in 2018 with a considerable focus on hats, subverting the silhouettes of beanies and bucket hats, Maestu continues to sew upcycled fabrics, creating one-of-one's, a practice welding together intentionality and connection.

Evolving over the past few years, the Japanese-American French designer is not one to consume himself with the process but rather place value on the community that builds him up. Launched in 2021, LTTT, Little Tokyo Table Tennis, was created as a club where people can connect but, most importantly, have fun. Aligned with the ethos and intention within Poche, Maestu has designed merchandise of accessories and garments, a wearable extension of the experience, and a celebration of the clubs one year anniversary.

Interview by Michael Hall
Photos by Emilie Wilde and Kawaiibae.jp

As I walk around his studio, I spot bins full of LTTT hats, embellished with contrasting colors and all with the Poche label, a creative cohesiveness. I'm surprised that the rooms fold into each other, a spacious studio where every corner is utilized, either with a giant sculpture or small sculptural hats, some in progress and some not. This space must only be a fraction of the inner workings of Maestu's mind, a place where curiosity and play rule all.

While Poche continues to grow in popularity, already a favorite among the ones who know, and LTTT carries on with programming, an acting touchstone for Asian-American identity, Maestu is happy with the direction his brands are heading, stripped of hyper-commercialization and the need to "level-up."

Sitting across from me on the floor, with the windows cracked to let any cool breeze in, Maestu opens up about his LTTT community, creative motivations, and the future, where growth is on his terms.

Thank you for inviting me into your space. Can you tell me a little about Poche and how it began?

The brand itself started in 2015 with an ex-partner at the time as a women's wear line. And then it was slow for a while. I went to Paris for school and then came back [to Los Angeles] and kind of relaunched as a pure hat brand in October 2018. So a year before, we were in the studio, and then from there, it was an easy start. First with making hats for myself, and then it just kind of took over; that's all people wanted.

Like this over here. I had friends asking me to make hats, and I was making pretty simple ones, at the beginning. Then it kind of just evolved where people were asking me to make hats for other friends or famous people. They're like, “we need some crazy shit.” I said, “Okay,” I gotta make some crazy shit. But then, I would play around with different kinds of fabrics. Hammering them into the floor and then dyeing them, bleaching them, and then fixing them. I would spend a lot of time dying things. I use fabrics that I'm kind of recuperating or finding morsels of; I would only have like a yard or two, like weird trims here and there.

Where do you source your material?

Downtown LA. Sometimes it'll be a thrift store or a garment that I’m cutting up. Now it's mainly Ragfinders if you're familiar. It's a big store. It's all deadstock fabric. And there’s all of ninth; between San Pedro and Main, there are these smaller deadstock fabric stores. That's like 99% of where I'm buying stuff from.

I used to dye everything by hand. Now, it's evolved where I work with a small dye house. We're using so many different fabrics pieced together on these types of hats. Dyeing them over gives each piece of fabric on the hat a slightly different hue. I try not to do it like a full dark dye; that way, there are nuances and similar tones of colors.

Your team’s pretty small?

The whole inner workings are pretty much just me and Patty and then my girlfriend/partner Gurina. She does, on a larger scale, garment manufacturing and production. She has a studio not far from here. She's also a designer and makes her own clothing, bags, and accessories. She helps a lot in terms of streamlining the production process. Until we met, I was sewing every single thing by hand. So I could only output as much as I had in me to sew. The team expands naturally to all my friends who participate creatively in projects we conceive and collaborators we partner with.

Do you see your team expanding?

It’s something I think about all the time. I had a talk with Gurina about it the other day. I feel like brands on a similar level as ours may benefit from investment or backing. And then build this scalable structure. And it takes months or years to turn around the investment while dealing with expectations. It’s a step up (or sideways…), I suppose - I am still reluctant to entertain that. I really value the freedom to create (or not to).

Does it ever get hard to let go of one of your creations, especially because they're mostly one-of-ones?

I’ve never had an archive because I don't hold on to anything. I'll remember the hats for the most part. It's getting harder now because there's a lot, but when you see it, you're like, ‘Oh, I remember that. I'd rather have someone wear it than sit in a studio.

So, you were born in Los Angeles?

I was actually born in France. I'm half Japanese and half French. I went to high school and middle school in LA. And then I went to college in France, so I was living there for a while.

Do you see LA and its culture playing a role in your craft?

There’s an LA that pops into your head when you think about LA, but it doesn't mean anything. Everyone's from somewhere else here. I grew up in LA, where influences come from all over. I like that you have the space to be anything. When I was in other places and living in France, I did not feel this comfortable.

You’ve created a community here. How do your friends inspire you or the people you connect with?

It’s a subconscious thing. You’re drawn to people who resonate with how you feel or what you're doing. The inspiration is really natural, and I might not even realize it. It can be my sister (Zoe Blue M.) and her friends or my mom’s friends or anyone! Everyone is a DJ, so we have unlimited good music. Everybody's doing work for you in a way, but then you're doing the work for them as well.

Do you see Poche studio existing outside of Los Angeles? Maybe back in Paris?

I couldn't be in Paris. I mean, it's a state of mind. When I was in Paris, I was broke, trying to start this up, and I lived in an apartment that was half the size of this room. I might go back if there was something going on or if everybody was receptive to what I’m doing. I could see it going anywhere, but I don't think I would change the base. I’d always be back here.

You’re growing a lot, yet Poche still remains lowkey, flourishing among the people who know and understand the brand’s vision.

What I love about what we're doing is that it's not a brand that has a rulebook. Poche is fun because it changes month to month, year to year. It's growing like an organism that has this community that's also growing with it - not just up but in any direction.

You keep establishing a community, now with LTTT, Little Tokyo Table Tennis; how did this begin?

I've been playing for three and a half or four years. During the pandemic, I was playing with my friends a lot. 12 hours a day kind of a lot. It was kind of one of these things that really stuck with us - because it’s so fun - but especially because we felt a connection to something we hadn’t before. It’s this sport that is fun and accessible and easy for most people. Everybody is familiar with it. But then, doing research about it and learning about the sport, it became one of these things that actually was really representative of who we are. It's such a huge phenomenon in Asia, yet in America, you don't think much about it. I developed an intimate relationship with this sport that, unlike most other sports, is dominated by Asian countries. Where the stars of table tennis resemble us as Asian Americans.

After diving into the sport and establishing a love for it among friends, then it became more structured?

LTTT lives one block away from here. It’s a community center called Terasaki Budokan that is operated by Little Tokyo Service Center. They just opened last year as a result of 30 years of planning and construction. It's a huge accomplishment for the community of Little Tokyo.

I visited one day about 15 months ago to inquire about plans for a table tennis program or club. They said they had none. I offered to start it, and after some planning, it took off. It was good timing.

I always had thought I would make merch or a brand that was table tennis related. When LTTT began, it was truly a dream come true. Making the logo and then creating the identity that is LTTT has been a huge part of what it all represents.

How do you approach making merch for the club?

This past year has been about the hat. Which felt like a comfort zone in relation to my work with Poche. But the logo on the hat is what makes it all. It’s a type of product development I’ve never experienced before and that I am constantly grateful for. The merch is simple but is growing all the time. I consider them symbols of this community we’ve all nurtured. Something everyone gets a piece of.

On a design note, did you ever study color theory in school?

I went to school twice after high school. The first time was for graphic design and only lasted a year. It was all art classes - art history, drawing, etc... I never got to the computer by the time I had dropped out. It was an impulse and may have taken longer, but I am happy to have taught myself. The second time I went to school was in Paris for draping and pattern making. We’d flesh out collections and show our research, so there's some training there.

Do you come from a creative family?

My mother (Asuka Hisa) is an artist and someone I’ve always looked up to. She's also a director at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, doing public programming and engagement. Before the ICA LA was the Santa Monica Museum of Art for almost 20 years putting together incredible public programs. So I grew up in museums my whole life. My sister is a wicked painter. She’s now finishing her MFA at UCLA and has been showing for the past year and a half pretty frequently (and successfully!). And my father is in financial consultation, so there was definitely a harsh balance. He had me playing sports up until I was 18 years old. In my early 20s, I had this feeling that I was starting late, creatively. I think both worlds have now met and now work together for me, which is beautiful.

It's interesting because it’s more than just a creative passion, but it's been handed down to you– these creative tendencies and curiosity.

Yeah, exactly. It’s been ingrained.

Do you see Poche going back to its apparel roots?

I think it's something that could happen, eventually. It's hard for me. I think it could eventually become something bigger, but we're still creating this solid foundation with the hats. I've made other things other than hats in the past that people were really into. We did belts, or we’ve done clothing, sculpture, and more. I love making clothes. I have a weird relationship with fashion. I don't look at fashion that much. It turns me off remembering how much excess there is.

It seems like sustainability is a large part of your ethos.

It’s a core value, definitely.

It’s great that your brand remains focused on intentionality and being authentic.

I think that's something that we want to hold on to. I'm not trying to sell out and be forced to do things a certain way. Time is valuable. Even if we’re not capitalizing as much as possible at any given moment, other things are more important.

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After 30 years and over 100 cult fragrances, COMME DES GARÇONS PARFUMS 1994–2025 BY SIMONETT & BAER launches this month

December 17, 2024

“I have to add that the topic is, of course, an irrational one, because it's not art and it's not fashion. It has to do with scent, which is something in the air,” explains Dino Simonett, renowned art-book maker and designer/publisher of the new COMME des GARÇONS x SIMONETT & BAER book, which details 30 years of CDG perfumes.

“The moment you smell something is irrational,” he continues. “This book transports you and brings you to the idea behind the perfumes. People have gotten thousands of art catalogues from me, but this fucking perfume thing really drives people a little bit crazy, you know? Because everybody has this bottle; and that bottle smells like this on them; and this bottle I need; and all the memories and everything. I like it a lot that we made this.”

As fans and family of the world’s coolest brand prepared to gather at Dover Street Parfums Market in Paris to celebrate the launch of the book, our Editor-At-Large Paige Silveria shared some coffee and cigarettes with Simonett to discuss his wild trajectory, making books with Joseph Beuys and Tilda Swinton early on, and the importance of nonconformal thinking.

By Paige Silveria

This fucking perfume thing really drives people a little bit crazy.

Paige Silveria: Tell me about yourself. You make books.

Dino Simonett: My books are my art. Each book might be a painting or sculpture. And you should not do the same sculpture all the time. When you hike somewhere, you never should go the same way back home — this is something my mother taught me when I was young. In the same way, it's boring to make the same stuff all the time. So I try to find a way to invent my own language.

PS: This book you’ve made is really beautiful.

DS: It’s hyperrealistic larger-than-life images of boxes and flacons in an endless row presented on paper the thickness of a children’s book.

PS: I loved how it said in the press release that you woke up one Sunday morning and the idea for the book suddenly came to you.

DS: The backstory is that Remo Hallauer [COO of COMME des GARÇONS International] is a true book lover. We met at the Offprint book fair in Paris. And one day, shortly after peak COVID, this email came from him asking if I’d think about a possible collaboration with one of the young stars here — and no hard feelings, but it didn’t work out. So then, as it is in life, which is the essential thing, you have to have an idea. And most of the time, they’re not good enough. You have to have another and another and then you go, Ah ha! Perfume.

PS: And you’d already been pretty familiar with their fragrances?

DS: I’ve known this stuff since the beginning. I wore the first perfume they created. It was part of my life all the time, and I thought, It's so funny. There’s a connection with how I make the books: like two, three books a year, all collaborations and each is different. Just like their perfumes. So I immediately texted Remo.

PS: And what perfect timing, with the 30-year anniversary.

DS: Yes, but this was two years ago or so. I hadn’t had the jubilee in mind. It might not look like much, but there was a lot of work to do.

PS: Many of the advertisements and images weren’t archived, physically or digitally, right? You had to search all over for a good portion of the material?

DS: Well we also had to wait for the official deal to go through in the beginning. Adrian Joffe [President of COMME des GARÇONS International and Dover Street Market International] wanted to do it but he didn’t have the mind space at the time; they were about to open the Dover Street Market here in Paris. So we were on our own for a bit, developing the project from zero. We looked all over the Internet and tried to create the chronology. I had a young guy helping me. He kept reminding me to be patient and to continue to work on growing the book. The door was open, but we had to wait in front of the next room. So we took little steps to prepare ourselves. And stuff slowly worked out.

PS: And thank God for the Internet.

DS: Yes, because as you mentioned, there was no archive. We thought surely they’d have something in the basement. But no, that didn’t exist. At one point they sent us a list of all the perfumes so we had a clear checklist to manage. I had to become an expert.

PS: There are so many, over 100?

DS: Yeah, and at one point the CDG team was activated. It was like a machine and in the spring suddenly a load of stuff was coming. First we had to grow the grapes, then make the wine and then the grappa. And at the end, it's a really strong grappa. And so things came together, and then one day Adrian said, “All is fine, but Rei [Kawakubo] must now also approve it. This is how the system works.” But nobody had told me! So Remo met with Rei to show her the book.

PS: That’s a bit of pressure!

DS: She could have said no and we’d have to throw everything in the garbage, two years of work. There was indeed a little bit of pressure. But it was fine. She liked the book. Then at the end of this summer we met again and they asked if they could have some of the finished copies on 20 November in Tokyo. I said, “I’m sorry, what?” He was thinking that the book was finished, you know? I told him we still needed a lot of material to finish it. Sometimes it's nice though to have this pressure. It's motivating and thrilling when you finally accomplish it all.

PS: Let’s go back. How did your upbringing inform who you are?

DS: It has to do with nonconformal thinking. Most people think the same. And we’re constantly pressured as well, by everything around us to conform. You have to really fight to keep your head and so I had this upbringing with this rather eccentric mother who was absolutely nonconformistic in every way. She was resolute. Why should we follow the path of the masses? It was never my thing. Voilà.

PS: How were you in school?

DS: I was not so good at school. I was only skateboarding at that time. I was on the Swiss National Team. I even was here in Paris at a European championship when I was 15 at the Trocadero. And my mother said, “You are not going to school anymore. You need an apprenticeship. It makes no sense to send you to school any longer.” I was independent and had my first salary at 16.

PS: What were you doing?

DS: I was a carpenter making tables, chairs, all that stuff. All my friends went to high school with like 16-week holidays, while I had only four. And so it was really, really tough shit for a 16 year old. But I learned two important things. The first one was discipline; seven o'clock each day it started and lasted nine hours. And the second thing was precision; you have to do things right. People always said to me that the apprenticeship was good as I’d really use it for the rest of my life. And I always thought that was such bullshit. But actually, it's kind of true. And so anyways, the moment I finished my apprenticeship, the very last day of the last test, I went on the Interrail for one month and never went back to a carpenter shop.

PS: What’d you do after?

DS: I wrote a letter to this very super famous music guy, Claude Nobs who was organizing the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, telling him I’d like to work there that summer. I mentioned that I’d just finished my apprenticeship for carpentry. He phoned me back immediately after getting the letter. He said, “Oh you’re a carpenter? You can come right now.” He was renovating his apartment in Montreux. So I stayed and worked there alone while he was up at his chalet. I felt like Kevin McCallister from Home Alone in this completely furnished apartment. And then the festival started, and there was this guy from New York doing a large mural painting. It was Keith Haring. I had no idea who he was. We became friends. Then I met George Benson and Herbie Hancock. It started from nothing and then one thing comes, another thing comes, another thing comes. This is how I started, which is maybe not the natural way. But I was following my intuition and taking chances and putting myself out there.

PS: And you're going after what you have a passion for.

DS: I think that’s the best way to live one's life. It was like my own private art school. I met all the guys I was totally hot about. I met Joseph Beuys and told him I wanted to do an art project with him. I got his number and he told me to ask for his assistant. But I took everything for granted, what people said to me. So I had this phone number in Berlin. And I called the guy 20 times until this fucking meeting with Beuys finally happened. And we met and made a small collaboration art magazine called “Quer.” You just have to stick to the stuff.

PS: Wow. You don't still have one of those copies around, do you?

DS: I had one and I brought it to Remo at one of our meetings. Adrian saw it and immediately took it … I hope he gave it back to Remo. Adrian has a pile of my stuff that he wanted to see, so that’s good.

PS: Yeah, of any coffee table in the world for it to be displayed, his is probably in the top 10.

DS: So then I decided my dream was to be a film director. There was a film school in Berlin that I applied to. They only took about 18 people from 600. We waited all week to see this list on the wall for the final call back meeting. And my name wasn’t there. I was like, “Shit!” And then a week later, I received a letter saying I’d been accepted. Later the director told me it was clear enough with my application and the art magazine I’d sent that I’d be accepted. I don’t say this to brag. I say this to tell you that every young person that wants to go somewhere, all they have to do is fight. You have to get out of your house and your small town and your comfort zone and all that shit.

PS: I agree. So you’ve made films?

DS: I made a feature movie and went to the film festival. It was really amazing and everything, but I was not Tarantino, you know? So it’s the last semester and Tilda Swinton is supposed to teach a seminar. I really wanted to attend it. It would be the cherry on top of the cake. Then she postponed it once, then twice. The third time, I’m on the tube and there’s a woman in front of me with a newspaper that says that Tilda’s super mentor, Derek Jarman, had passed away. It’s the very Monday morning that her seminar is set to begin. And I thought, Oh shit. She’s not going to be there. But then she was there after all and it was a fantastic week. There were only five of us students and we all fell in love with her. And she fell in love with us. I’ve known her since.

PS: I can only imagine. How’d you make the transition into books?

DS: You have to find out what you're really good at. I had long discussions with this guru, an old guy who was a very diligent, very bright guy. I was really miserable, feeling directionless. He asked me why I wasn’t continuing with filmmaking. And I couldn't give him an answer. Then he said right into my face, “Probably it’s because you’re not good enough.” The message was one-hundred percent received. It was a relief; I'm not a bad person. This guy told me the truth, and I could accept it. And when you can do this, you can figure out what you actually want to do, what you’re actually good at. I started making books. I made one with another film director. And we visited Tilda at her hotel, bringing one to her as a present. As we’re knocking, I thought to myself, If I did another book focused on people in this business, it’d have to be her. And she opens the door, looks at the book and says, “Oh, I would like to have a book like this on me.”

PS: These situations seem unreal.

DS: I spent five years on her book, which was an enormous success. It included stills from all her films and launched it in different cities. Fantastic shit.

PS: And now you’ve just released this soon-to-be iconic CDG book.

DS: I've learned to be patient; things can take you years. This book with Adrian and Remo took two years and I didn’t even know if it was going to be approved! Follow your dreams as much as you can. It's not so important which dream it is exactly. If I see a step in front of me, I try to take each chance I get. This is what I wish for everybody, in whatever situation you find yourself, start to do something with nothing. This book started with just a simple idea. You can not find anything like this on the Internet, this compilation, this narrative. It’s something we had to bring together with enormous work. And here we are. I think in our digital, splattered times sometimes you have to make something which is real. That you can sit with and focus on in silence and really take time alone with it.