“BORO MARKET” at KUON Flagship Store

May 23, 2024

A special exhibition titled "BORO MARKET" will be held at KUON Flagship Store from this weekend, May 24.

Boro fabrics from KUON's Boro collection of various backgrounds are exhibited. Some of them are of a quality that would be housed in museums.

At museums, you cannot see or touch them up close, but at this BORO MARKET, you can actually see, touch, and experience Boro up close.

襤褸 -BORO-

Boro was said to be born in Edo period(1603-1868) or earlier. It is cloth or clothing that has been mended by stitching called Sashiko. In the old days, people not only carefully wore clothes until they were torn and had holes in them, but also continued to wear them by stitching hemp or rag cloth on the torn parts. When it was torn, it was mended by stitching, and when it was torn again, it was mended again... . The fabric that was carefully and carefully used through repeated mendings became thicker and thicker, and was also used for protection against the cold. You can see the layers of fabric in the photo.

Cloth and clothing were very valuable items, especially for people living in farming villages in the Hokuriku and Tohoku regions of Japan. They were sometimes prioritized over food in order to endure the severe cold, which could be life-threatening.

Rags are filled with a parent's desire to protect the lives of their children and the "mottainai" spirit of using things carefully for a long time. Although Boro has now gained an artistic reputation around the world, at that time they were used secretly to avoid being seen by the public as something to be ashamed of.

In a sense, Boro is a condensed version of Japaneseness. This exhibition can give inspirations to visitors how to live sustainably by seeing, touching, and experiencing Boro and the aesthetic of Japan.

Modern version of Boro

In the spirit of not wasting cloth and clothing, "mottainai", KUON and our partner factory have created a modern version of Boro, named "Upcycled Boro Type02". We collect surplus fabrics, scraps, and remnants that would normally be thrown away, and patchwork them together to create new fabrics. The background story is same as the original Boro, and it can be a future antique.

アップサイクルボロタイプ2