When I returned from Asia, I managed to book myself onto the curator's tour of the "Living Colours: Kasane – the Language of Japanese Colour Combinations" exhibition at Japan House. The exhibition explores the natural dyed textile work of the Yoshioka Dyeing Workshop in Kyoto. Due to my interest in natural dyeing, it [...]

Sakura motifs are often featured in Japanese manhole cover designs
 
If you have visited Japan before, you have probably seen the wonderul manhole covers on the pavements all over Japan – it would be hard to miss them! The popularity of these manhole covers has been growing rapidly both locally and overseas, and [...]

Boro – real astonishment exhibition
 
After spending so much time in the rural countryside, I found it hard to cope with the hustle and bustle back in Tokyo, and felt slightly dazy and detached from reality. My original Airbnb booking was cancelled by a host in Tokyo at the last minute, (the 2nd [...]

 
Most foreigners who visit Japan tend to stick to big cities or well-known onsen/resorts, and they rarely travel to the rural parts of Japan. On this trip, I completely fell in love with Japan's rural countryside. The Kumano Kodo pilgrimage was a highlight, but I also loved Fujino, a rural town (with [...]

 
Top: a visit and demonstration of katagami by the Ise-Katagami artisan Isao Uchida

 
Like I mentioned in my previous entry, my knowledge on traditional Japanese textiles techniques was quite minimal before the workshop. I have done some shibori techniques like itajime and pole wrapping, but I have never done any stitch shibori nor [...]

 
Lately, I have beein trying to recall when I first became interested in textiles, initially I thought it was after seeing a Japanese textiles exhibition at MOMA years ago. But then I remember how I used to draw/sketch historical costumes after seeing them on TV drama series, and this made me realise [...]