Born in 1938, Issey Miyake witnessed and survived the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. Upon graduating in graphic design in 1964, he worked in Paris and New York before returning to Tokyo to open his own design studio in 1970. Towards the end of the 1980s, Miyake started to experiment with fabric pleating techniques that allowed for ease of movement, as well as ease of care. Garments were produced and then heat sealed in a press. In 1999, Miyake transferred the design of his collections to Naoki Takizawa, so that he could concentrate on full-time research projects. As of 2012, he is one of the co-Directors of “21 21 Design Sight”, Japan’s first design museum.