Sitting down with Japan's most unconventional influencer
About this episode
Bernd Kestler discusses his journey as a German knitter in Japan and his unconventional career.
Meet Bernd Kestler, a German knitter living in Japan. He sits down to talk to us about moving to Japan in the 80s, his love for knitting, and exactly how he's established this unconventional career in Japan. -- 0:00 Intro 0:45 Meet Bernd 7:08 First interest in knitting 12:32 Knitting in Japan 14:55 Knitting full-time 16:54 Knitting in Japan vs. Germany 22:27 Understanding knitting designs 24:03 Japanese knitting designs 28:33 Guiness record blanket for Tohoku 37:07 First knitting book 42:29 Japanese yarn 44:28 How the book affected his career 46:51 Translating knitting concepts to Japanese 49:36 Collaboration with Komeda Coffee 54:10 Knitting creative projects 58:55 Japanese color palettes 1:01:30 Those spiky things on the table 1:08:51 Looking back 1:16:29 Knitting innovation -- Follow Bernd: http://berndkestler.com/ @BerndKestler https://www.instagram.com/berndkestler/ https://www.facebook.com/bernd.kestler/ https://linktr.ee/berndkestler Follow us: https://unpacking.jp/ https://www.instagram.com/unpacking_japan https://www.tiktok.com/@unpackingjapan https://www.facebook.com/unpackingjapan https://www.youtube.com/@unpackingjapanshorts https://www.x.com/unpacking_japan…
People in this episode
Guest: Bernd Kestler
Topics covered
- knitting
- influencer culture
- expat life
- Japan
- creative projects
- cultural exchange
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: ZenStudio
Books & works: knitting book
Places: Japan, Germany
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- How kfel became a real life magical girl
- Journalism in Japan in the age of rising nationalism
- What it takes to be a translator for Square Enix
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