Obubu Tea Farms Four-Bar Photo Printed Cotton T-Shirt

‘From farm/fieldwork to fabric,’ the Sabotage X Gentle Artefacts Matcha Psycho capsule collection is the output of a highly unique collaboration, in which a fashion designer and street photographer accompanied Gentle Artefacts to conduct ethnographic fieldwork with craft-scale tea farmers in Wazuka, Kyoto, Japan.

The front of the garment features four vertical bars of original photographs by Street Dreams Magazine Tokyo photographer Takeshi Hayakawa. These images are themselves artefacts of an ethnographic field trip to Obubu Tea Farms in Wazuka, Uji, Kyoto in January of 2025. Hayakawa documented the encounter between the Japanese farmers who cultivate Obubu’s teas and matcha—extending multi-century traditions of craft agricultural practice in the process—and Singaporean streetwear, fashion, and sneaker designer Mark Ong (aka Mr. Sabotage). The four of Hayakawa’s photographs that Sabotage and Gentle Artefacts selected for incorporation into the collection through this piece are blown up in the gallery to the left. These include:

• (Top left:) Aerial drone shot of tea field plot belonging to Obubu Farms, nestled in the ridgelines of Wazuka’s surrounding mountains. If you zoom into the photograph and look at the center top of the image, where a dirt rode runs along the ridge at the top of the tea field, you can see the group of us—the photographers, designers, farmers, and Gentle Artefacts founders convening in the fields.

• (Top right:) The tea ‘factory’ or processing facility and tea tasting cafe at Obubu Farms in Wazuka, Kyoto. A street art mural of a nude man in a cap holding a freshly harvested tender tea shoot is a representation of Akky-san, the lead farmer in charge of cultivation—from cuttings to cup—at Obubu farms.

• (Bottom left:) A silouette portrait of Matsu-san, a tea master, co-founder of Obubu Farms in Kyoto, and founder of Ikedoki Tea in Sonogi, Nagasaki. Captured in Obubu Farm’s cafe while whisking a bowl of their Okumidori matcha to serve Mr. Sabotage.

• (Bottom right:) A still from the tea processing facility/’factory,’ portraying one of the farm’s vintage sencha rolling machines. The beauty of human technologies designed for drawing out the best of living nature is on full display.

The images for the editorial (above), also shot by Takeshi Hayakawa and featuring models from Kyoto and Osaka, was captured on site at Obubu Tea Farms and around Wazuka town during the spring harvest (May 11th to 13th, 2025).

·       100% cotton (slub jersey 300 GSM).

·       Available in cream as well as charcoal color varieties.

·       Ribbed crew neck and cuffs.

·       Direct to garment dye photo print.

·       Contrastive white top stitching at cuffs, collar, and shoulder.

·       Machine wash cold or cool. Turn inside out to wash. Hand wash recommended to sustain integrity of the photo print.

·       Do not tumble dry. Lay flat to dry. Cool iron.

Slight oversized — but fits true to size. Take your usual size. If truly between sizes, consider taking one size down.