Iwamoto used to enjoy a busy life as a designer and a stylist. However, one day in 2014, he injured his left hand seriously from a traffic accident. Meanwhile, a president of his group company embezzled vast amounts of money and disappeared. Since Iwamoto paid for all the remaining debt, he lost most of his money. Iwamoto is a person who trained himself at Sabae City in Fukui Prefecture for making
samples of eye-wear and became famous in that field. Thus, injury to his left hand caused him significant financial damage. Although Iwamoto was mentally damaged due to such matters, he realized that he should not stay in Japan, otherwise his negative mind will stay forever. It was the time for him to move forward. He took all the money he had and went abroad, which was something he has been longing for since he was young and never been accomplished. In Asia, he visited China, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, and India. Then in Australia, he visited Sydney and Melbourne. Iwamoto came up with a lot of things, especially in Asia.
“These countries will have massive industrial areas, even more than in China. They have high potential in making great products, if we tell the Japanese way of sewing, as well as skills in making eye-wear. Japan is having serious problem in finding successors in various fields. Wouldn’t it be much better to get Japanese engineers to go abroad and expand their skills, rather than staying in Japan only to wait for someone who can take over?”
Right after coming back to Japan, Iwamoto gathered people who were interested in his thoughts and collected the fund. He established factories in Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia and sent Japanese engineers to teach their skills. Finally in early 2016, a factory for eye-wear in Vietnam started to operate. One day, Iwamoto was drinking with a musician who was a good friend of him. The musician suddenly said…
“Why don’t you release a brand again? Just like we make music albums, you can do the same with eye-wear. Isn’t that supposed to be the designer’s job? It’s still too early for you to go to backstage.”
After thinking of what he told me over and over, the brand “Metronome” was created. As being told, I went back to basics and started to design for eye-wear. Iwamoto releases new collection each season, he always thinks like he is releasing a new music album. He puts titles and descriptions, as if he is writing lyrics. His products have pitch; codes from A to G; and various tempos from 42 to 200. Each of them is just like music. The name “Metronome” was originated from the time Iwamoto was travelling overseas with a little acoustic guitar for the rehab of his left hand. During then, he was also carrying an old Metronome made in Japan. The guitar broke for so many times and he had to buy the new one each time. On the other hand, the Metronome never broke and kept the rhythm constantly. Iwamoto was impressed with its sophistication, accuracy and toughness that he named the brand “METRONOME”.
