Italian touch: Through a perfect combination of tradition and innovation, Damiani products have gained fame in Italy and worldwide.

Ten years after stepping out of the spotlight, retired Japanese soccer player Hidetoshi Nakata is back, collaborating with Italian jewelry brand Damiani.

A bunch of socialites flocked to luxury Italian jewelry shop Damiani in a posh shopping mall in Central Jakarta.

They were waiting for a special guest — retired Japanese soccer player Hidetoshi Nakata, who collaborated with the Italian brand in designing a new jewelry line called Metropolitan Dream by Hidetoshi Nakata.

“Who is this guy [Nakata]?” one of them asked her friend.

“I don’t know much but I googled his name and I read he was a pretty good soccer player,” replied her friend.

To describe Nakata as a “pretty good soccer player” is an understatement. In the late 1990s, he was one of the most respected and popular soccer players in the world.

After an impressive performance with Japan at the 1998 World Cup in France, Nakata went to Italy to play with Perugia in the then highly competitive Serie-A.

During Nakata’s stint with Perugia, he managed to display impressive performances on a regular basis. So much so that bigger clubs started to take notice. After a season with Perugia, Nakata signed a contract with AS Roma.

Roma was fighting for the Serie-A title back then and Nakata played a crucial role in ensuring that his club won it.

He scored a crucial goal and took part in another that forced a draw with top rival Juventus at Juventus’ home turf. This match proved to be the deciding factor when the season ended and Roma won its third and last Serie-A title to date.

After spending years playing for Italian clubs and a brief period in the English Premier League, Nakata surprised the soccer world by announcing his retirement 10 years ago following Japan’s defeat by Brazil at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Nakata’s retirement came as a surprise as he was only 29 years old, an age when most players are still in their prime.

While Nakata was not the first Asian player to play in Europe, he was the first to create a big impact for the clubs he played with. His role as a playmaker made him a crucial component and he was not only playing for European clubs to make the roster but he served as one of their star players. His decision to retire, therefore, was a great loss for football.

After retirement, Nakata decided to use his hard earned income from soccer and endorsement deals to travel the world.

He stepped out of the limelight that used to constantly follow him everywhere he went. The soccer world lost track of one of its best sons because he decided to walk away entirely from the beautiful game.

“Traveling gives me all the possibilities and that’s the reason why I can find so many things to do these days. Speaking of retired soccer players, do you know what they do now? Well, they are most likely still stuck in soccer. I have so many opportunities to do stuff because I travel. If I didn’t travel, I would not have known what I would do,” Nakata told The Jakarta Post.

The collaboration with Damiani was one of the opportunities that crossed his path.

“When we met, he had just finished his career at a very young age,” said vice president of the Damiani Group, Giorgio Damiani.

“He was always traveling around and I was very curious to know about his experiences. We usually met up in Paris and I proposed collaborating with him. I mean, he is such a talented guy with good taste in fashion and we are an international luxury brand, so why not collaborate and create something together?”

Besides Nakata, celebrities such as Isabella Rossellini, Brad Pitt, Milla Jovovich, Jennifer Aniston, Gwyneth Paltrow and Sharon Stone have collaborated with Damiani.

Nakata said he realized he was not a designer and therefore he brainstormed a lot with Damiani in creating the design for the Metropolitan Dream by Hidetoshi Nakata line.

During the brainstorming period, Nakata offered concepts on what he thought the jewelry should be and what they should represent while Damiani came up with design ideas.

“Basically I sketched and he [Damiani] came back to me with product ideas and in the end, we created the line,” Nakata said.

The result is a collection of jewelry that is simple yet elegant in the form of bracelets and necklaces using black gold and pink gold as their main materials.

“A portion of the profit will go to a charity that provides clean water in Africa,” Damiani said. “This collaboration is not only about business but also about doing something good for other people.”

Nakata and Damiani also made sure the jewelry pieces were suitable for everyday life and could go with any type of clothing.

“You can wear them with your jeans if you want. You do not need to be wearing suits,” Nakata said.

After collaborating with Damiani, Nakata said he still had many things he planned to do in the future.

For a start, Nakata said he wanted to continue with his previous work in preserving the culture of sake in Japan.

Nakata also plans to collaborate with local traditional craftsman around the globe because he believes they have been struggling of late due to a lack of appreciation and attention from the younger generation.

“People do not understand about them or the high value of their work. For me, personally, what they create is more important,” Nakata said.

A return to the soccer world, however, is out of the question.

“I played soccer for 20 years. Soccer was like a brother to me. When you lose your brother, of course you will miss him but you have to carry on,” he said.

Popular

Volcano erupts in North Sulawesi, hundreds evacuated

Dubai roads, airport reel from floods after record rains

Ramadan boosts consumer confidence, retail sales