TALKING TEXTILES : JAPAN 2018
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photo by galen crout for unsplash
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A unique journey hosted by Marcella Echavarria & Philip Fimmano
Edelkoort Inc. is proud to present the third adventure in a series of special journeys delving into textiles as part of its TALKING TEXTILES educational initiative. This intimate experience will allow a select number of travelers the opportunity to emancipate themselves from their daily lives and escape into the magic of Japan and its culture.
Accompanied by textile experts and curators, guests will tour esteemed textile collections, learn about natural fibers, regional traditions and local weaving techniques, all the while immersing themselves in Japan’s traditional culture.
SAVE THE DATES: August 23-September 3, 2018
Please join us this summer for an unforgettable journey into the heart of Japanese culture. Philip Fimmano and Marcella Echavarria invite you to discover some of the country’s most inspiring textile mills and retail experiences. Accompanied by Kaori Ieyasu from Edelkoort East’s Tokyo office, this insider’s look will introduce you to our favourite addresses and places.
PRELIMINARY TOUR SCHEDULE
August 23 : arrival in Tokyo
4 nights in Tokyo
Visiting the city’s most inspiring retail venues to uncover Japan’s latest trends and creative ideas. Includes a visit to Nuno with Reiko Sudo, a stop at Pigment Tokyo with over 4500 shades or the world’s biggest art supply, the Issey Miyake studio and a surprise museum treat! Accommodation is at Hotel Claska, one of the city’s new-style hotels.
August 27: 1 night in Mount Fuji
Take a bullet train to Yamanashi, a traditional textile region that has reinvented itself over the past few decades. We will visit small mills creating sophisticated textiles for fashion and interiors in innovative yarns and techniques. We will also introduce you to the weavers themselves during an intimate interactive meeting. Accommodation is in a peaceful ryokan, located under Fuji-san’s protective eye and serving fine Japanese food and wine.
August 28 : 2 days in Kyoto
Continuing on to Kyoto, the tour will visit niche artisans working in diverse crafts while allowing time to experience the country’s traditional capital. Accommodation is in one of the city’s old-style houses.
August 29 & 30 : Tokushima
The trip is highlighted by a textile trek to remote Tokushima to visit Buaisou, one of Japan’s last traditional indigo dye farms. Accommodation is in a local inn on Shikoku island.
August 31 & September 1: Osaka
September 1: Transfer to Osaka, the country’s industrial textile hub to visit interesting stores and its renowned National Museum of Ethnology. An amazing and inspiring end to the trip!
September 2 :departure from Osaka airport or onwards via Tokyo
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The Japanese artist Mariko Kusumoto focuses on the beauty of materials such as fibers, metals, and resin. Her work is included in permanent collections of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Japanese Gardens Flordia, the Kock Collection at the Swiss National Museum, Murikami Museum and the Racine Art Museum. In all of her work, there is always the insistence on skill and craftsmanship.To get to know her and especially her fiber collection better, we asked her some question:
How would you describe yourself as an artist?
Growing up in Japan and living in the USA for nearly 30 years has exposed me to both Western and Japanese aesthetics which, enhanced by my intense curiosity, has broadened my view. I am able to appreciate all art forms, and I regard them all as one. To me, there is no boundary between different categories. My mind is very flexible, and my creativity is not restricted by any rules.
What is your main inspiration behind your fiber work and can you tell me about the design process?
Encountering different types of material in daily life is important to me. Sometimes I’ll come across a material that I find mesmerizing, and it will draw me in and stir my imagination.
Fabric is one of the most familiar of everyday materials. Even though the word “fabric" sounds straightforward enough, the range of different fabrics is broad, with unique characteristics that can draw out a variety of sensations or emotions. Some fabrics imply the cool feeling of moisture, others have a fluffiness that is comforting; there are fabrics that invoke the mysterious or the ethereal; there are fabrics that inspire tranquility; and some fabrics suggest fragility, subtlety, etc.
I develop fabric pieces that reflect my strong interest in the material itself, how fabric is inherently the opposite of metal, which is the material that I exclusively worked with for many years. I strive to bring out the fabric’s inherent characteristics and beauty. I give it a new identity through re-shaping it into three-dimensional forms. For example, because I love the translucency of fabric, and working with layers and adding moving parts, I can create playful, mysterious, and ethereal atmospheres.
Besides being inspired by the material itself, I am also motivated by the process. Almost half of my creative time is spent experimenting. During the experimental process, there is sometimes a breathtaking moment. I pay attention to these accidental discoveries, capture those moments and develop new ideas from that point.
The full potential of what I can do with fabric is still unknown to me. I’m on a journey to explore the endless, unlimited possibilities of this material.
Any future work of exhibitions we should expect to see your work?
My next exhibition will be a solo show at Galeria Teresa Seabra in Lisbon, Portugal. from September 1-30, as part of the Bairro das Artes 2018 event.
My plans for next year include the LOOT 2019 show at The Museum of Arts and Design in New York, April 8-13, a group show in September at Galerie La Joaillerie par Mazlo in Paris, and plans are being made for a trunk show at MoMA New York’s Design Store.
Interview by Isabeau van Maastricht
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DESIGNED UPCYCLE RECYCLABLE
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Did you know that 80% of plastic toys end up in landfills, waste incinerators or even oceans? ecoBirdy wants to create awareness about this problem and empower kids to care for a more sustainable future. Through recycling used and broken plastic toys in their ecoBirdy container, the company recycle and upcycle toys into new products.
Joris Vanbriel and Vanessa Yuan are the duo behind the brand and aim to free our ecosystem from pernicious impact. They recently launched their new kids’ collection made of ecothylene ® featuring chairs, tables, lamps in the shape of a Rhino and a container shaped like the Kiwi animal. The products are all 100% from European waste and 100% recyclable.
Next to the kid’s collection, ecoBirdy also provides school programs about plastic toys and how it can be harmful to our planet. On the website you can buy special books with educational material. Alongside the books, schools can also have their own ecoBirdy container. All kids and parents are asked to leave their contact when bringing old toys. They will receive an email as soon as their old toys are giving a new life. ecoBirdy wants their story to be kept in mind and make the upcycling process transparent.
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VILLAGES OF WEST AFRICA, AN INTIMATE JOURNEY ACROSS TIME
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Award-winning architects Cathi and Steven House explored seven countries of West Africa to capture in more than 500 photographs the beauty of the landscape, people, textiles, villages and vernacular architecture.
Cathi and Steven House take you with them on their journey through this magical piece of earth between the Atlantic Ocean and the Sahara Desert. This intimate journey across time will be increasing your knowledge about West Africa, as well be a sight for sore eyes due the amazing photographs.
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EVENTS
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TREND SEMINARS
ENLIGHTENMENT / on healing society and fostering another fashion
A/W 19-20
BASEL
June 15
Home & Lifestyle 2020
"House of Colours"
Avant Première Colours
Summer 2020
PARIS
June 25
Details & Bookings
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TALKING TEXTILES
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TALKING TEXTILES #2
The wild and vibrant second issue of TALKING TEXTILES is organised around the culture of cloth. In this trend magazine, the mood is up and creativity is on the loose, celebrating the revival of textiles. This issue is filled with remarkable developments in textiles, art, clothes and interiors, from artisans and artists to mills, manufacturers, designers and innovators as well as talented graduates. With colour, textile and yarn forecasts by Li Edelkoort, a whirlwind of floating fibres, harvested yarns, tubular colours, woven fences and knitted architecture will fuel readers’ creative energy.
€60 plus shipping & handling
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MORE TRENDS
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TREND TABLET
Trendtablet explains how trends grow, evolve and flow, and helps us better understand and perceive how they interact in our daily lives. this tool accessed for free is open to comments and new ideas, please contribute and be part of our network .Enjoy!
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ANTI_FASHION
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This much-talked-about and thought-provoking manifesto by the world’s most respected trend forecaster covers the 10 main issues that indicate the fashion industry has reached breaking point. Edelkoort courageously confronts marketing and advertising, as well as challenging education, materials, manufacturing, retailing, designers, fashion shows, the press and consumers alike. This means that the economy of clothes will take over from the turnover of fashion. Therefore trend forecasting has changed as well, taking its leads from social change and finding creative ideas within lifestyle trends and consumer behavior. A break-through philosophy focusing on textiles, garment-making and the imminent revival of couture. It’s time to simply celebrate clothes!
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BLOOM FAITH
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Confronted with the adversary of human designed disasters and manmade political scandals paralyzing our planet and countries, people’s only recourse becomes faith, an almost forgotten principle. To have faith in the spirit of survival, to have faith in creative forces able to rebuild society, an intrinsic need to believe in the human race, especially in moments of bewildering despair. We need to trust our instincts to build a better future, full with genuine love towards ourselves and others, even those at fault. Being able to forgive, to understand, to comprehend, to taste the fear in others. To pledge an awareness of altruism, script a gospel of compassion. Desire needs to be embedded in empathy.
Recognizing their inspirations and yielding to innate creative urges, artists and designers will build up the needed confidence to create new matter, landscape other horizons, design decorative objects, weave unusual fibers, draw non-existent flowers, created with the deep conviction that aesthetic expressions will resonate with others and are able to heal and care for people. Faith grows from future generations, professing their reliance on inner strength, convinced to reroute society the way they see it; convivial, cooperative, concerting, concerned, a society where truth remains an important quality and flexible forms of constancy help to compose the rhythm of existence.
Lidewij Edelkoort.
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