profile / alumni / product-design / on-03
October 25, 2024
By Solvej Schou
Images courtesy of Postalco
Postalco: Mike Abelson + Yuri Abelson Shimizu
The alumni-founded Tokyo-based design brand creates products that include clothes that mirror the skin’s natural flexibility
What if our clothes could move with us, and not against us?
That question led alumni couple Mike Abelson (BS 97 Product Design) and Yuri Abelson Shimizu (BFA 97 Communications), founders of Tokyo-based design brand Postalco, to do lab research in 2024 with a University of Tokyo biomechanics expert. The company’s Japanese-made products include apparel, clothing, stationery and bags.
Using motion capture technology, they mapped the intricate movements of human skin and the brand’s clothing during everyday activities.
They found that our skin shifts in ways we don’t even notice.
That discovery inspired Postalco’s Free Arm Wear: clothes that mirror the skin’s natural flexibility, with V-shaped pleats and unique shapes. “From a design perspective, entrepreneurship means bringing objects into the world that work well, have a long life, and look beautiful over time,” says Abelson.
