Fashion designer Ryuhei Oomaru has made it big in New York, even working on a suit for U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and clothes for former first lady Michelle Obama. But Oomaru, 43, wouldn't have made it this far in the global fashion scene if it weren't for an instructor of a sewing class in his native Fukuoka. His sewing box contains a pair of old sewing scissors, a keepsake from Ruriko Sugino, from whom he learned sewing when he was in his teens. Oamaru keeps the scissors in good condition and uses them with care. With his family operating furniture shop Oomaru Seisakusho, he grew up watching how his artisan grandfather made custom furniture pieces.