[This is an updated article originally published on July 29, 2023.]
Hi this is Shohei.
As mentioned in the last blog, "Arimatsu Shibori" items often appear in look book. It is one of the key fabrics of this season with a strong impact. I would like to introduce the technique today.
What's Arimatsu Shibori
Arimatsu-shibori is the general term for the tie-dyeing technique of squeezing and dyeing cloth that has been handed down in Arimatsu town, Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture.
It has been loved by people since its birth in the Edo period (1603-1867), and was designated as a national traditional craft in 1975.
Arimatsu Shibori is a very time-consuming and labor-intensive process, as every step of the process is done by hand. Some items from KUON's early collections were also made using this technique.
These are the townscape of Arimatsu, and people have kept those housings in traditional styles. Just browsing around must be fun.
Why Arimatsu Shibori for this collection?
It is my personal question asked Ishibashi, the designer.
As you can read the concept along with the look book, this collection is inspired by snow, especially in his childhood. He felt the fragility of snow and the delicacy of hand-dyeing overlapped somehow.
I believe you'll know what he says when you see the items in person.
The atelier and the work scene
Lastly, I'll share some photos that have been taken by Ishibashi.
Marked where to be dyed, and folded in accordion like form and pinched.
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Fixed tightly to tubular base.
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Tie hardly with tape and string so that only the folded edge can be dyed.
(We used dyeing on white based fabric and bleaching on black one.)
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Put them in water to make the fabric absorb the dye much more.
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The fabric, which is tightly bound to a tube, is placed in a hot pot filled with the solvent to be dyed.
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Soak the fabric after removing the fabric from the base.
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Inspect the fabric because it can be damaged in the dyeing process.
This is a method called "Ita-jime", "Ita" means plate and "Jime" means tie or fastening, literally tied to a plate and dyed. There are so any other ways in Arimatsu Shibori, and we selected this one to describe "falling snow".
As you can guess from the above process, each products are unique. You can find unevenness of dye that can be produced only by manual works.
I hope you can feel the beauty of Japanese artisan.
・Arimatsu Shibori Open Collar Shirt
・Arimatsu Shibori Regular Collar Shirt
・Arimatsu Shibori Harington Jacket
Thank you!
