me in too?" Knowing very little about this closed community in Tokyo, only what I’ve heard. The money that changes hands is high, and there's whispers of unsavoury characters making big money trading these items.
"Yes, come, I’ll show you where you'll be working." Daniel takes my bags before I can reach for them and heads for a staircase I’ve only just noticed in the back side wall behind his desk. Once my eyes are accustomed to the darker ambiance outside the glare of his desk light, I can see the 'hall' goes back much further than I first realised. All the joining buildings which look so different from the outside, are really one huge space. At the back of the ground floor lay rows of black packed boxes sitting on a neat wooden palette. I suspect they contain finished jeans, at least twelve boxes, which to my estimate hold six or seven jeans boxes. Each serial numbered and stamped jean comes flat packed folded once in half. The reverence and treatment are a symbol of the workmanship that goes into making this exclusive pair of jeans, since there is so much hand craft involved, no two pairs are ever exactly the same. Wrapped in black tissue with the eagle and ship crest printed on in fine metallic gold, now I remember where I’ve seen the logo, and fixed with a gold seal sticker. They are placed in a wax finished black tray that slides into a lid with RANDom embossed on the top and the eagle and ship above foiled in gold. Then a ribbed gross-grain black ribbon ties the box closed in a perfectly flat, not girlie, bow.
I remember when I finally got hold of my own RANDom denim, so excited, I’d followed a trail of whispered information across London had spoken to a few people and been sent to various locations to track down this piece. I met an old man in a café on Portobello Road, where a vast part of my months’ salary was exchanged for one of those waxed black boxes.
But my prize wasn't a jean, I’d been after a jacket, only four ever made so the word on the street tells it. But you know how those words often are, truth is nobody really knows how many jackets there are, and I have one. A black raw heavy denim, rough and stiff broken twill, 32oz western style with pyramid stud decoration and the eagle and ship embroidered in black lurex on a huge square calico label inside, with the serial number stamped underneath: '2012:3/4 only'.
I follow Daniel up the stairs appraising him from behind, aware Steffi is watching us, and trying not to show it. Is she going to be a problem for me? I snap away that thought as soon as it arrives, puncture it like a sharp pin to a balloon, Daniel and I are attracted to each other, neither of us will say anything, not here, not now. But this man makes my brain quiet, I’ve never felt like this about anyone before. I take a final sweeping glance behind me and Steffi is staring at our ascending figures, eyes blazing phone to her ear, listening, not talking.
Suddenly, I hope there's more tea coming.
A bit later in chapter five, Tuesday:22ndoctober2013, more of my new boss
"Here's where you'll be working when you're here Tharie," and he leads me into a massive studio. Wow! Floor to ceiling window on the side wall obviously the back of the building, I look out amazed, the streets at the back look strangely like the streets at the front, if the TARDIS appeared now I wouldn't find it astonishing at all. I have a gigantic cutting table desk, dark grey rubber surface, black legs. A black painted floor and the back wall is covered in a strong galvanised metal mesh grid for hanging garments. I have two huge Mac screens on one end and a MacBookPro laptop, my set up has already been installed. An A3 matte black Wacom graphics tablet and pen sit waiting. My email has been installed and I’m ready to go. A shelf of metalware finish colour charts and a small workstation. Like my own at home, with a grinder and a hand sander.
In front of my desk in the other half of the room sit two three-seater black leather sofas and a huge low reclaimed wooden coffee table, a similar design to the desk Daniel has downstairs I notice and nod smiling.