Tangible Wisdom
Excavating the Shape Beneath
Old, beloved, used, and softened cloth. A needle and threads.  That’s all to begin with. Stitches around the windows where ripped cotton threads come out like feathers. “The mended piece is powerful. More powerful than the original cloth,” Kinuyo says. A stitch...
Sarasa – Traces of Cultural Confluence in Japan
Sarasa is said to have been born in India; the textile with grand, playful, and colourful patterns. As "Good Things Always Spread", it has appealed to the East and West, merged with indigenous aesthetics. Japan was not the exception, to say the least. What caught the...
Cracks and Bumps Are All There to Be Cherished.
They Are The Traces of Trees' Life. "It’s intimidatingly yellow," Te.Te.Ro says. “This is mulberry. When you fell the tree, the freshly-cut surface is vivid yellow. Almost like the traffic light kind of yellow. So yellow that it’s almost intimidating.” The way he...
Excavating the Shape Beneath

Excavating the Shape Beneath

Here, I am reminded of the words of a Buddhist sculptor, who says it’s not him to give shape to a piece of wood: rather, his work is to help it manifest the shape hidden beneath, which has always existed within. 

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A Little Prayer Sewn In

A Little Prayer Sewn In

The act of sewing is, or used to be, universal. It was a way to make most of the resources we had a limited access to. 

As most of us are now able to purchase clean, new clothes cheaply, the act of mending and stitching doesn’t seem to make sense at least in terms of efficiency.

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Better to be heard than touched…?

Better to be heard than touched…?

Sensual sound of kinuzure Let our imagination fly free while listening to this.  What did you see? A court lady taking off one of many layers of kimono…? Then you have a superpower! It was actually Norio Arai, rolling up almost 13-metre-long fine silk fabric...

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Touch Me

Touch Me

Shining like baby skin First, I want you to touch me.  The slick, silk-like surface smoothed by thousands of touches, brushstrokes, and… whetstones. I’m speaking of the urushiware lacquered by Senro Sato.  I don’t know how many Japanese households use real...

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Fantastic Form

Fantastic Form

Organically solid soil     Soil turns into a solid piece of ceramic through the magic of water and fire.      These FORMs though…Every FORM piece has its own distinct, fluid shape. I won’t be surprised if they start moving at night when humans are...

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