Craftsmanship
We are a textile shop founded more than 111 years ago, located near the Koishikawa Botanical Garden in Tokyo’s Bunkyo Ward. For many years the techniques and sensitivity of our craftsmen have supported the works of designers at Paris Fashion Week and Japan Fashion Week, in Tokyo. We launched the Koishikawa Dyeing Workshop, and are producing small, original accessories that make use of dyeing techniques. We are sure that you will appreciate the beauty and warmth unique to hand-dyed fabrics.
Itajime-some
板締め染め古くは奈良時代から伝わる染色技法のひとつで、生地をたたんだ状態で一対の板に挟んで染める事により、その挟んだ部分だけが染まらずに独特な柄が生まれます。一枚ずつ手作業で行う為に板の隙間からほのかな滲みが生まれ、プリントとは違う独特な趣を醸し出します。一点一点異なる絶妙な味わいをお楽しみください。
This is one of several traditional Japanese dyeing methods that originated in the Nara period (710–794). Fabric is folded and clamped using a pair of boards. Only the unclamped portion is dyed, which produces a very unique design. As it is a manual process, involving one sheet of fabric at a time, some dye penetrates through openings in the boards to create a faint, yet distinctive, charm that is quite unlike that of print patterns. We hope you will appreciate the exquisite appearance that differs from piece to piece.