Hi it's Shohei.
We held a SAKIORI workshop with Ms. Ishigashira from Saccora Japan at our flagship store last week. It had been postponed again and again due to COVID...I would like to share our experience with you guys today.
Some of the participants said, "I have never purchased Sakiori items, but I would like to buy one in the future", "This experience changed my way I look at KUON's Sakiori" or "I have learned the charm of Sakiori once again" and many of them purchased Sakiori products. It was a very meaningful day.
About "Saccora Japan"
-Ms. Ishigashira from SACCORA JAPAN
SACCORA JAPAN inc. was established in September 2011 with the hope that happiness would come to Tohoku and Japan, which at the time had been severely damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake. The Sakiori they produce is woven by people with disabiliries.
The name "Saccora" is derive from call of Sansa Odori, a traditional performing art in Iwate Prefecture. It means happiness will come to you whenever you wish.
KUON has consistently used Sakiori woven by Saccora Japan since the cap and cardigan released in the SS17 season. Several items using luxurious Sakiori woven fabric will be in stock soon for FW22 season. Please look forward to them!
DANBOLOOM
Here is the loom used in this workshop. The DANBOLOOM* (cardboard loom) was developed over three years as a simple loom on which anyone can experience Sakiori weaving in order to promote the technic.
*Danboru(cardboard in Japanese) + loom
This time, we used DANBOLOOM to make coasters.
The first step was to assemble the loom.
Then, set the warp.
After that, set the weft for the edge of the coaster. So far, everyone is going smoothly. However, nobody can yet imagine the finished picture.
Now the loom is ready.
It's time to select fabric to use. This time Ms. Ishigashira brought strips of Kimono worn for Sansa-Odori. Originally, we would have started by tearing the fabric into strips, but since that is said to take more than a day to complete, we omitted that step this time.
By the way, I was only watching this time and I was very eager to do it around this point.
After deciding the fabric, set the weft on shuttle.
The weaving became more and more difficult from this point on, and everyone struggled to weave silently. (Even if I talked to them, they are so concentrated that they didn't not respond to me.) Little by little, we could see the finished picture.
I was glad to hear later that the participants enjoyed the workshop and concentrated on it.
It's almost there!
The last part is to remove the woven coaster from the loom and tie the warps.
Sounds easy when written, but in fact, this is the most difficult part of the process!
Finally, it's done!
According to Ms. Ishigashira, Sakiori reflects the personality of the weaver. Looking at the coasters that everyone had woven, some of them had roundish shapes and some are tight, some are loose... I was convinced that "the personality of the weaver can be seen".
We are planning to hold more workshops in the future, so please look forward to the next one.
About the relationship between Saccora Japan and KUON
During the workshop, I asked about the encounter between Saccora Japan and KUON. It all started when Fujiwara, the CEO of our company and Ishibashi, the designer, became interested in Sakiori of Koyoborai Japan at the exact same time. They immediately contacted Ms. Ishigashira, met her at a coffee shop, and they hit it off perfectly.
And the cooperative relationship has continued from 2016 to the present. I felt through this workshop that the relationship is more than just making products together, but that there is a stronger connection of passion and heart toward the same mission.
KUON is making products with producers other than Sakkora Japan on an equal footing, and I reaffirmed that in addition to design and functionality as clothing, this attitude is also a key to the appeal of KUON products and what makes them so loved by customers.
You can know more about Sakiori at this article.
Thank you!
