Textile Swatches

How it's made: Clamp Dye Resist fabric.

 

One of our new textiles, 'Colaba' from our soon to be released collection, 'Bombay Glitz' is handmade by a Clamp Dye Resist process, also called Itajime.

It basically involves making folds in the fabric and then using a carved wood shape as a resist. This wood resist needs to be placed on both sides of the folded cloth and then is held together tightly with a clamp.

Here are some images from our process-

Bringing in the muscle to tighten the clamps!

The clamped fabric is then soaked in water to make it more absorptive to the dyeing process.

It is then placed in the dye bath.

After it is removed from dyeing.

And the clamps are removed, but the fabric is still folded...

And voila! the finished product...

And here's a short video documentation. 

What do you think? Do you like the result?

Here's a great book, 'Shibori: The Inventive Art of Japanese Shaped Resist Dyeing' if you have an interest to explore this technique. It's written by my friend and mentor, Yoshiko Wada, and Mary Kellog Rice and Jane J. Barton.

Pulp Fashion: The Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave

I'm so inspired by the show I saw last Saturday at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. My friend and mentor, Yoshiko Wada, took me to see the terrific and inspiring exhibit, 'Pulp Fashion: The Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave'

Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrave is a painter by training, who for more than fifteen years, has created an astonishing and original body of work. After a visit to the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in the mid 90s, she was inspired to experiment with fashion design through the medium of paper. 

Painting and manipulating paper, she forms trompe l'oeil masterpieces of elaborate historical dresses. Her work spans 300 years of fashion history from Elizabeth I to Coco Chanel- encompassing the worlds of Mariano Fortuny and 19th c. Venice, the Medici costumes from the Renaissance, gowns worn by Elizabeth I and Marie-Antoinette to the creations of the grand couturiers Frederick Worth, Paul Poiret, Christian Dior and Coco Chanel, and even kaftans of ikat and suzani patterns.

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The exhibit will run till June 5th, 2011 at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco

 

Thoughts of Japan

Hearing the sad news and watching the horrific images of the natural disaster in Japan, helps put life into perspective. Our everyday grievances are so unimportant in the bigger picture..

My heart goes out to the people affected by this tragedy. I reminisce the wonderful times I spent in Japan in the mid-90s, enjoying the caring hospitality of my hosts and friends at NUNO Corporation. I had the fortunate opportunity of working with NUNO. It gave me my foundation in textiles and sent me down   the wonderful journey of textile explorations.

I came across this wonderful interview with one of NUNO's founders- Junichi Arai- a living textile legend! Open the link to check out the video.

 

Upcoming: Sonia Delaunay exhibit at The Cooper Hewitt

I'm looking forward to seeing the exhibit-Color Moves: Art and Fashion by Sonia Delaunay  She is one of my favorite Abstract Modernist artists. Her work radiates movement and color and makes me happy! She started as a painter and was later known for her designs on fabrics and fashion. The show will feature her work from the 1920s through the 1940s when she was exploring the relationship between fabrics and contemporary art in terms of movement and color.

At the Cooper Hewitt Museum, NYC. March 18th- June 5th, 2011

I own 2 books about her work-

And have pre-ordered- the book accompanying the show at the Cooper Hewitt.

Riedizioni: Luisa Cevese

One of my favorite possessions are bags made by Milan- based, Luisa Cevese- produced using textile waste from industrial textile production. When Ms. Cevese worked as research director for a silk mill in Como, Italy, she was shocked by the quantity of waste generated. Through her company 'Riedizioni', founded in 1994, she collects these scraps, arranges them by hand in a flat composition and encases them in plastic sheets to create a composite material that is durable and visually intriguing. This 'fabric' is then made into accessory products including- bags, placemats, floormats, etc. These can be purchased through the MoMa design store and select retailers and online stores.

She also did a collection of textiles called 'Ply' for textile company Maharam. It features interlocking yarns (jute, chenile & tweed) encased between layers of polyurethane.

ECOPRINT: India Flint

                          

The Ecoprint is a water-based printing process using relatively small amounts of plant material as compared to traditional dye methods.

India Flint, a Melbourne native, who is settled on a small family farm in South Australia, devised this method by applying vegetable color to cloth using small amounts of plant material in a recycled dye-bath. All of the vegetation comes from her farm, while the cloth is woven from the wool of her own flock of sheep.

The result is an eco chic look of luxurious tie-dye and one can notice the imprint and patterns of the leaves and plants used. She creates a collection of clothing and commissioned textiles from her Ecoprints.

To keep an ecological balance, she plants a tree in Hope Springs for each item she sells!