Clothing designer Rumi Murakami Robertson's love for modern design runs deep. Influenced deeply by her Japanese heritage and a childhood immersed in the creative counter-culture of Northern California’s Bay Area in the late 1970’s, her design philosophy follows a tradition of handcrafting as opposed to high volume production.

When she heard the 2019 National Symposium was happening in Hawaii, she was moved to participate. "The idea of supporting this community in some small way was very exciting for me," Murakami explained. Initially, ideas were tossed around such as designing a swag-bag or t-shirt, but, humbly, Murakami thought someone else would do a better job at this and passed on the project. 

Several months later, in an encounter with one of the symposium organizers, it was mentioned half-jokingly that there should be a special clothing item designed for the occasion. This struck a chord with Murakami. The concept came very quickly after that. Her idea was to design a single clothing item that followed some of modernism's main tenets: well constructed, with clean lines, and thoughtful in function. And so the RUMI MURAKAMI x Docomomo US shirt was born. Made with aloha for lovers of modern design everywhere. 

The shirt comes in black and white and is available for purchase at Fishcake, Kaka'ako and online. A portion of proceeds from sales of the shirt will support the local Hawaii chapter of Docomomo US.