Framed furoshiki

Lovely to see people enjoying my furoshiki on their wall! Yay! I keep meaning to frame one for home but still a haven’t got around to it …

 Photo from zivastrnad

 Photo from projectpalermo.com

47 textiles today

 

Photos from 47 textiles today.

One week left! It’s your very last chance to catch this exhibition at Hikarie in Shibuya. Presented by D&Department project, this exhibition showcases textiles from across 47 prefectures in Japan. Link represents the prefecture of Kanagawa, where Link furoshiki are hand-printed. What a great idea, and it is a great privilege to be included!

47 textiles today

Start : 21st, November 2013

Close : 2nd, February 2014
Opening time : 11:00〜20:00
Address : 8F 2-21-1 Shibuya Shibuyaku Tokyo 〒150-8510

Link – Winter 2013.

Yay, Link’s winter furoshiki are out! Please take a look …

My latest design ‘Dots‘ is available in blue, black and rust. The design continues along the theme of folding and wrapping. Hours of paper folding and experimenting went on behind the scenes, which was a lot of fun … perhaps I’ll share some sketches at a later date.

Also launched this winter season is ‘The Hida Express‘, another beautifully intricate design by Hannah Waldron (designer of the Maze furoshiki, Winter 2012) based on a train journey she took through the Japanese Alps.

Update … Link

 

It’s February 2013 already, and this blog has been so neglected!

There’s been a lot of activity amongst the Link collective since I last wrote. 2012 has been busy! We saw the introduction of Link’s popular leather carry strap (designed and handmade by director Kyoko), some beautiful work from a new collaborator in London, Hannah Waldron, who also presented with Kyoko at PechaKucha Night in Tokyo. A fresh collection of new furoshiki designs and colours, and some really great photos from photographer Martin Holtkamp.  An interview with Link’s printers was published online by spoon-tamago in July, giving a rare look behind the scenes. To end the year, Winter colours were released and Kyoko flew to New York where she ran a small Link furoshiki workshop.

2013 is already underway, keep your eye’s peeled for more …

Print Textile Festival of cocca 2010

Photos from www.cocca.ne.jp.

Recently I sent some work to Tokyo, to my favourite printed textile store, cocca. They were inviting work for a summer competition: ‘Print Textile Festival of cocca 2010’. I feel very excited and honoured to discover that I have been awarded two prizes for my work – a Jury Prize, selected by Eguti Hiroshi (representative of a bookshop UTRECHT in Nakameguro) and cocca Special Prize “seeing Japan from abroad”.

There will be an exhibition, from Tuesday 24 to Sunday 29 of August, displaying the prize winners works at their shop in Daikanyama. If you’re in Tokyo please check it out!

Special thanks to my friend Jun for helping me out with translating all correspondence. x

At last … LINK is officially announced!

After lots of work, we are very excited to officially announce the launch of our limited edition furoshiki!

Two original designs, hand-printed in Japan on 100% cotton. Please take a look at our site: http://thelinkcollective.com/.

Tokyo Project 22

Tokyo Project 21

Work in progress

We just received a photo from our printer in Tokyo showing our new project in progress … I’m very excited. I’ll announce more about it very soon!

Tokyo Project 20

Tokyo Project 19

Tokyo Project 18

Tokyo Project 17

Tokyo Project 16

Tokyo Project 15

Tokyo Project 14

The making of ‘chusen’ tenugui.

Tenugui is simply described as – ‘a piece of dyed cotton cloth’.

Although tenugui date back to the Heien Period (AD 794-1192), the ‘chusen’ dyeing technique still used by today’s craftsmen, was devised in the Meji era (1868-1912). This technique is as unique as the tenugui designs themselves. Tenugui are dyed by hand, resulting in an inconsistency in the colour and pattern of each piece. The design permeates the fabric, so that it can be seen clearly on both sides and as the colour fades with use and age, the cotton acquires its unique soft texture.

Just before I left Japan I had the amazing opportunity to attend a tenugui workshop for a day, learning the dyeing technique with the company Tokyo Wazarashi (a Tokyo based company that make tenugui). Since our workshop focused on the dyeing process, our class was supplied with ready-made paper patterns to use. Here I’m posting photos I took during the workshop I attended (bad quality photos unfortunately, but they give you an idea). The descriptions are put together from what I can remember from the class, combined with references from a brilliant little leaflet that recently came to my rescue, produced by Kamawanu Co Ltd (my favourite tenugui brand). The information I’m posting is as accurate as I can make it at this time, however bearing in mind I’m not Japanese, I apologize if I have misinterpreted some details. Any corrections are welcome!

Things required for the class: 1. Rubber boots 2. Rubber gloves 3. Obento (lunch box)

The dyeing process:

1. Fine paper patterns are made on ‘bitter paper’ (made up of several layers of Japanese paper, painted with the bitter juice of the persimmon). They are carved by hand and covered with a film of gossamer (fine mesh), which makes them durable enough to withstand repeated use.

2. Rolls of bleached cotton cloth (approx 34 cm wide) are prepared.

3. The first piece of cloth is rolled out flat on the printing bed. The paper patterns are mounted as screens, and then lowered onto the fabric. Using a starch paste made from a mixture of clay and seaweed, the inverted pattern is printed on the first 90 cm section of cloth. Then the screen is lifted. This process is much like screen printing. Then the next 90 cm section from the roll of unprinted cloth is rolled out on top of the previously printed section and the process is repeated, until many layers of cloth have been printed with the starch paste and sandwiched together.

4. To help keep the starch print in place on the layered cloth, it is laid on a flat surface and covered in sand.

5. Then the layered cloth is placed on a special dyeing bed. Dyes are poured onto the surface of the starched textiles and sucked from below by a compressor. Dyes are also poured onto the reverse side, which helps let the dyes permeate through the textiles, resulting in the tenugui’s characteristic quality of the pattern on both sides.

6. If many colours are used, a mound is formed by pouring a trail of paste around each area to separate the dyes.

7. The textiles are then vigorously washed, which opens them out and removes the starch and extra dye.

8. They are then hung to dry in the sun.

9. Once dry, the textiles are put back on a roller and folded into 90 cm lengths once again. The wrinkles are rolled out and then they are cut into individual pieces. Both ends of a tenugui are left unfinished.

Tokyo Project 13

Tokyo Project 12

Tokyo Project 11