The art of shibori handcraft inspiration

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The art of shibori handcraft inspiration BACK TO INDEX Harrogate, November 2002 Philippa Watkins, WGSN 08.07.

The International Shibori Symposium demonstrated how inspirational handcrafted techniques can be.

However, other, low-tech, more hands-on creative skills are also playing an important role.

1 The art of shibori handcraft inspiration BACK TO INDEX Harrogate, November 2002 Philippa Watkins, WGSN The future of textiles is assumed to lie with high-tech innovation, but a more low-tech, hands-on creativity is also gaining prominence, influencing the creative production of textiles. The International Shibori Symposium demonstrated how inspirational handcrafted techniques can be. Pleated silks created through shibori techniques by Genevieve Dion Creative skills are vital to the textile industry and its future. New fibres and finishes are often the results of high-tech skills. However, other, low-tech, more hands-on creative skills are also playing an important role. Note the popularity of embroidery and fabric manipulation in recent years, particularly in accessories - demonstrating a strong consumer demand for products with a difference. In truth, technology and craft skills can benefit each other. While many looks can be produced by automation, the inspiration to develop the machinery comes from the craft skills. Conversely, new synthetic fibres and finishes, with different characteristics and properties, become the raw materials for artists to explore - which in turn feeds back into industrial production. Yoshiko Wada knowledge and skills of manual crafts. A prime example of this process in action is the pleating, crushing and sculpting of polyester fabrics mastered so beautifully in Issey Miyake s collections which, because they are in polyester, are truly permanent. Here is a marriage between the high-tech and the hands-on, building on the What is shibori? Shibori is the Japanese word for dozens of methods, including folding, stitching and clamping, which shape and secure cloth before dyeing. The root of the word literally means to wring, twist, and press. It describes shaped, resist dyeing - a process of manipulating cloth that, when dyed, leaves the reserved areas recorded as patterns or threedimensional shapes. A characteristic of shibori resist is the soft blurred edge to the pattern. There is always an element of chance and the unexpected, with hundreds of miniscule accidents that can make up the pattern. Shibori Symposium November Harrogate, England Staged beside the Knitting and Stitching Show, this was the first event in Europe. Artists taking part in the symposium: Jenny Balfour-Paul, UK MargaretBarnet, Australia Caroline Bartlet, UK Patricia Black, Italy Karen K. Brito, US Marian Blayden, US Genevieve Dion, Canada Yukiko Echigo, Japan Catherine Ellis, US Michelle Griffiths, UK Marie-Helen Guelton, France Ana Lisa Hedstrom, US

This mutual process can be seen working well in Japan, where a strong tradition of skilled craftsmanship has a significant impact on the fashion industry, particularly in the development of fabrics.

Shibori Shibori practitioners in particular are providing a real dynamism in textile design. The Shibori Symposium is an example of how craft skills can proliferate and inspire the design community.

The two-day event, with presentations and workshops by international shibori artists and designers, finished with an Art to Wear fashion show.

2 This mutual process can be seen working well in Japan, where a strong tradition of skilled craftsmanship has a significant impact on the fashion industry, particularly in the development of fabrics. Japanese designers are producing some of the most exciting advances in the creative manipulation of textiles, thanks to the application of ancient crafts to modern materials. Shibori Shibori practitioners in particular are providing a real dynamism in textile design. The Shibori Symposium is an example of how craft skills can proliferate and inspire the design community. Held in Harrogate, UK, this was the first ever event in Europe (following previous events held in Japan, India and Chile). The two-day event, with presentations and workshops by international shibori artists and designers, finished with an Art to Wear fashion show. Distinctly theatrical, the show was bright, colourful and eye-catching, with clothes that would certainly make an impact and are fun to wear. Kaei Hayakawa, Japan Mie Iwatsubo, Japan Trine Mauritz-Eriksen, Norway Joan Morris, US Aditi Ranjan, India Jay Rich, US Karen Urbanek, US Yoshiko Wada, US Judith Whyte, Nigeria The Symposium was sponsored by Creative Exhibitions Ltd (organizers of the Knitting and Stitching Show), and the World Shibori Network (WSN) More information on Shibori: World Shibori Network Memory on Cloth: Shibori Now By Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada Published in 2002 by Kodansha International Yoshiko Wada, who spearheads the Shibori Symposium, is also a driving force behind the growing worldwide shibori movement. It was Wada, spanning east and west, who first introduced Asian textile resist techniques into the US some time ago (which have since spread internationally) through her books, exhibitions and lectures. Shibori: The Inventive Art of Japanese Shaped Resist Dyeing by Wada, Rice and Barton Published by Kodansha International Limited. Serenely diminutive, with a quiet but positive enthusiasm, Wada has also done much to encourage the research into new ways of applying this ancient art using modern materials and dyes. Shibori is the Japanese word for a wide variety of methods, including folding, stitching and clamping to resist the dye, shaping and securing cloth before dyeing. There is no single English word that covers the multitude of shibori effects and techniques. The root of the word literally means to wring, twist, and press, explains Wada in her book Memory On Cloth. It describes shaped, resist dyeing, a process of manipulating cloth that, when dyed, leaves the reserved areas recorded as patterns or three-dimensional shapes.

The fabric is given a three-dimensional form by the folding, crumpling, stitching, plaiting or twisting, rather than being only two-dimensional.

Genevieve Dion There is a strong emphasis on the process itself that, together with the raw materials, creates the effects, which cannot be exactly

The dyer working with the raw materials allows the materials to find their own expression rather than forcing it.

But crucially today, the techniques to create these absolutely individual patterns can be created through automation, without manual intervention,

Its ability to shrink when heat is applied is the essential factor for creativity - a quality that can be used to build dimensional effects and

3 The fabric is given a three-dimensional form by the folding, crumpling, stitching, plaiting or twisting, rather than being only two-dimensional. The memory of the shape it is tied or stitched into is thus recorded in the cloth. Genevieve Dion There is a strong emphasis on the process itself that, together with the raw materials, creates the effects, which cannot be exactly repeated. A characteristic of shibori resist is the soft blurred edge to the pattern, an effect that is quite different to a drawn pattern. The dyer working with the raw materials allows the materials to find their own expression rather than forcing it. And an element of the unexpected is always there chance and hundreds of miniscule accidents can bring a special magic. But crucially today, the techniques to create these absolutely individual patterns can be created through automation, without manual intervention, bringing them into the world of production. Polyester is probably the most important modern fibre for creative treatment. Its ability to shrink when heat is applied is the essential factor for creativity - a quality that can be used to build dimensional effects and textures in a fabric. Mie Iwatsubo Many designers include polyester in their collections because of its versatility. Polyester raw material can be made into any shape of fibre to form any number of variations in the final fabric. Transparent, fragile looking fabrics can be strong and durable, flexible, light-reflective, heatretaining - and much else.

Blends create new looks and textures, each fibre imparting different properties to the final fabric. Microfibres have made them lighter and more breathable.

Many of the less pleasant qualities experienced in wearing synthetics have been eliminated, making them much more comfortable to wear and easier to care for.

Mie Iwatsubo Shibori artists and designers Among the artists demonstrating their craft at the symposium, Genevieve Dion from Canada showed how she transforms Gunma silk (woven in the Gunma district

4 Blends create new looks and textures, each fibre imparting different properties to the final fabric. Microfibres have made them lighter and more breathable. Synthetic fibres and fabrics have come a long way since the days when they were seen as cheap substitutes for natural fibres. Many of the less pleasant qualities experienced in wearing synthetics have been eliminated, making them much more comfortable to wear and easier to care for. The electro-static problem is controllable in Issey Miyake s fabrics, for example, by the addition of minute amounts of metal woven into the fabric. Mie Iwatsubo Shibori artists and designers Among the artists demonstrating their craft at the symposium, Genevieve Dion from Canada showed how she transforms Gunma silk (woven in the Gunma district of Japan) into the most delicate yet robust, fluid pleated fabrics, with a natural elasticity. Woven from high-twist S and Z twisted silk filaments, the still-gummed silk is shaped using a variety of stitch resist techniques, so that the effects will be created when degumming takes place. The degumming causes the fabric to shrink because of its over spun nature. In unprotected areas, permanent pleating occurs, while the remaining stitch resisted and protected areas become textured. Using a number of techniques gives different results. For instance creating horizontal pleats across vertical pleats, forces the long pleats to flare. Mie Iwatsubo from Japan mixes traditional with contemporary techniques, knitting wool and silk, which she felts using stitch techniques. Knitting in eyelet stitch patterns, the fabrics naturally pleat when dyed and felted. These are made into a range of distinctive accessories, scarves and bags. Kaei Hayakawa Kaei Hayakawa, leader of the Shibori Community in Japan and founding

member of the World Shibori Network, utilises the shibori process in a range of products, from clothing (working with fashion designers including Yohji Yamamoto and Hiroko Koshino) to solid, hard

His more recent work involved exploration of shibori artistry in the larger environment, translating shibori techniques on fabric into more rigid materials, glass, aluminium and even concrete.

5 member of the World Shibori Network, utilises the shibori process in a range of products, from clothing (working with fashion designers including Yohji Yamamoto and Hiroko Koshino) to solid, hard sculpture. His more recent work involved exploration of shibori artistry in the larger environment, translating shibori techniques on fabric into more rigid materials, glass, aluminium and even concrete. Examples in concrete can be seen in the architectural installations at the railway station in Arimatsu, Nagoya, Japan. Catherine Ellis from the US has developed a method of weaving the stitching threads into the cloth, which are drawn up before dyeing, to produce the intricate patterns. With a cotton or wool warp and polyester weft, the resulting pleated patterns are permanent. She also uses felt resist paste (sodium alginate) so that only the unprotected parts will felt when washed or dyed, creating differential tension to create 3-D effects in the fabric. Yukiko Echigo is an extraordinarily inventive engineer and a perfectionist. Using traditional origami techniques, she stitches into the fabric and dyes in indigo, harnessing the natural force of oxidisation in indigo dyeing to produce her extraordinary patterns on cotton. Yukiko Echigo

Read & Download (PDF Kindle) Memory On Cloth: Shibori Now

Read & Download (PDF Kindle) Memory On Cloth: Shibori Now Shibori is infinitely more than the tie-dye that became well known in the late 1960s. Shaped-resist dyeing techniques have been done for centuries