西陣織: Nishijin Weave - A Japanese Traditional Weave

Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. This year, our team was fortunate enough to visit the Nishijin district of Kyoto and acquired a thorough understanding of the technique and origin of the Nishijin weave. We are very excited to begin including this lavish fabric in our upcoming collections.

Nishijin is a district in Kamigyō-ku, Kyoto, Japan, and (by extension) a traditional textile produced there and famous for Nishijin weaving, more narrowly referred to as Nishijin-ori (Nishijin fabric). Nishijin is Kyoto’s traditional textile center, the source of all those dazzling kimono fabrics and obi (kimono sashes) that you see being paraded about town. Nishijin produces the most sophisticated and lavish Obi you will find in Japan.

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                                       A stunning Geisha's Obi in Kyoto.

The beautiful fabrics woven in the Nishijin district are seen as a symbol of Kyoto and developed over 1,000 years alongside Kyoto's history as the former capital of Japan. Nishijin-ori‘s origins are from an ancient Japanese family, the powerful Hata clan, who immigrated to Kyoto from China around the 5th-6th century. Settling in the Uzumasa district of west Kyoto, they introduced silkworms and the manufacture of silk textiles to the local people. By the 8th century, the royal court had created an official branch to supervise the textile artists and their production. In other words, these were state-owned textile operations. 

In the 15th century, Kyoto suffered a long period of civil war, the Onin War, between the East and the West, and many artisans fled Kyoto to places such as the town of Sakai, south of Osaka. When the conflict finally ended, the weavers returned to Kyoto to resume their craft. One group of artisans settled on the site where the western army had been camped during the war. This is the origin of the name 'Nishijin,' which means west position. Nishijin’s literal translation is the West fort. Since then, the name has been used for the method of weaving to create designs and patterns using dyed threads in Kyoto.

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Supported by the patronage of both the Imperial court and great samurai lords, the weavers continued to adopt new technology. By the early Edo Period (1603 to 1867), there were some 7,000 looms crammed into an area of 1.6 square kilometers. A combination of disastrous harvests at the end of the 18th century with Japan's capital move from Kyoto to Tokyo in 1869, Nishijin weaving seemed threatened with extinction. But the Nishijin weavers showed an amazing resilience and spirit in preserving their craft. Observers were sent to Europe to study the textile industry there, and advanced Western weaving technology and equipment were introduced from France and Austria, such as the jacquard loom and the flying shuttle. By the 1890's, only 20 years after the shift of the capital, the Nishijin weavers had fully adapted modern technology to their ancient art. By adopting modern technology with their age-old craft, the Nishijin weavers were able to create a stable business in inexpensive machine-woven fabrics for everyday use that supported the production of the elaborate and luxurious hand-woven fabrics that are the purest expression of the Nishijin style.

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                                                                                                            Many Obis.

Nishijin Obi comes in many colors, including gold, and it is glamorously thick and rich, not to mention quite heavy as well. Nishijin Obi is rather expensive items, but one is enough to last for a lifetime. Their quality and craftsmanship are remarkable and orders from famous couture designers around the world are not uncommon. The Nishijin style of weaving uses yarn dyeing, in which yarns of various colors are woven to make patterns. This technique is both time-consuming and labor intensive compared to other techniques, but it is indispensable for creating the elaborate and beautiful hand-woven kimono fabric.

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                    Contemporary designs utilizing the Nishijin Weave is popular amongst couture designers.

Today, the clacking of looms can be heard all around the Nishijin area. The vitality of this district is a testament to the pride and dedication of Nishijin weavers through the ages and the important place that Nishijin occupies in the hearts of Kyoto people.

Author: Aruña Chong Quiroga

絞 : Shibori

The word Shibori comes from the Japanese verb root “shiboru” meaning, “to wring, squeeze, press”.

Shibori a traditional Japanese resist-dyeing technique that has been around longer than any other fabric dyeing method. It was most popular in the early Edo period when lower class people were forbidden from wearing silk. The pattern is made by binding, stitching, folding, twisting, compressing, dyeing, and then releasing the binding pressure to reveal the pattern. Each method that is used is done with harmony with the type of cloth to create beautiful surface designs. Commonly mistaken for tie-dye in the West, the original Shibori techniques were ancestral, handed down exclusively within Japanese artisan families. There are six major known Shibori techniques: Kanoko, Miura, Kumo, Nui, Arashi and Itajime. Faburiq's accessories are made from fabrics that utilize the Kanoko and Miura techniques.

Kanoko Shibori, the most popular variation of the Shibori technique and the closest to the Western Tie-Dye version, involves tying cloth to achieve the desired pattern. Each individual knot is hand-tied, creating small variations in the shapes, and is carefully released by the artisan one at a time. Most common are circular shapes achieved with this technique. Sometimes the circles are places in an irregular fashion to create an image, or more frequently, the fabric is folded into layers to create a repeating pattern. This is a time-consuming, painstaking process with beautiful, monochromatic results.

Miura is a technique that involves looping and binding. A hook and needle is used to pluck sections of the cloth and a thread is looped around each section twice, the released pattern resembles water ripples. The final pattern depends on how tightly you bind the fabric and where it is bound, making each pattern unique in itself. This is the easiest of all Shibori techniques and most commonly used.

Author: Aruña Quiroga

Give Thanks, Be Thankful and Waste Nothing

Happy Thanksgiving from Faburiq!

Faburiq lives by the values of Mottainai - that the old can be made new and everything can be given life again. Faburiq's pieces are fabrics that have been saved and reused, so you can give them another history and chapter in it's life. Thank you to our customers and for giving us the opportunity to serve you.  Have a very Happy Thanksgiving 2014!

Author: Aruña Quiroga

Inspired by Seigaiha 青海波

The new packaging for Faburiq is here! Seigaiha 青海波 literally means "blue wave of the sea". The double circle patterns resembling ocean waves around the label is not only found on fabrics but on packaging and pottery. This pattern has been used as a clothing motif in Japan for more than a thousand years and also used on ancient Chinese maps to illustrate seawater. The pattern originated from Middle Eastern culture and was introduced to Japan through China around the 11th century.

Just as blue ocean waves are the movement and the current of changing tides, such is life itself, always in motion and a journey. For me, the blue color conveys a sense of calmness and tranquility while the waves represents motion. An ideal combination whilst not always easy to accomplish, but is perfect as packaging for something truly special.

Author: Aruña Quiroga

銘仙絣: Meisen-Gasuri

Meisen silk is woven from pre-dyed silk threads (Ikat technique) and is the densest type of Ikat fabric in the world. Meisen is a moderately lightweight silk weave with a hard, smooth touch. The average person on the street in Japan will recognize meisen as what we call ikat. However, meisen may also be a solid color fabric, or woven entirely with undyed, unbleached yarns. So actually, meisen is the weave and kasuri is the dye method. Commencing production around 1868, Meisen silk became hugely popular in the 1920s/30s amongst fashionable Japanese women for everyday wear. Heavily influenced by European painters and art deco style, Meisen silk exhibits striking, bold and geometric prints that reflect the heyday of its production. Meisen ceased major production in the 1960s. 

To make meisen fabric, threads are first loosely woven and then dyed using stencils. The warp or the weft threads may be discarded at this point and new ones woven in to create the initial patterns. An alternative method is to stretch the threads as if they were woven, and then tightly bind the design areas before immersing the fabric in dye. The bound areas resist the dye, and when woven, this results in a design with rough edges because the threads are not evenly aligned. After the fabric is woven, additional hand painting, dying or embroidery is completed before assembling the kimono.

Today, Meisen is woven in the general region of Chichibu and Isezaki using yarns called tama-ito (a thick, seasonal raw silk) and noshi-ito (silk thrums) to weave a very strong, thick cloth used in every-day clothes. Centers of production are to be found in Kyoto, Isezaki, Chichibu, Ashikaga, Kiryuu, and Hachiouji. Although production of fabrics with Meisen style weaving has dwindled, what is left is a testament to the continuing dedication to craft and tradition alongside the rise of machine manufacturing.

Author: Aruña Quiroga

絣: Kasuri

The word “kasuri” originated from the Malay/Indonesian language meaning “bind” or “tie.” Kasuri textile production began in the Ryukyu Kingdom (now Okinawa). The Ryukyu Kingdom began producing bashofu kasuri textiles in the 1300s for export to China, Korea, Southeast Asia and Japan. Now, the representative types of kasuri made in Japan are in Hingo-kasuri in Hiroshima, Iyo-kasuri in Ehime, and Kurume-kasuri in Fukuoka.

The distinctive feature of kasuri textiles is a technique that twines and dyes vertical threads and horizontal ones together to create patterns, designs or images in the material. Kasuri patterns have distinctive fuzzy edges and look as if they were splashed onto the fabric. Because the individual threads are dyed versus printed on one side of the fabric, the design which is woven into the fabric allows it to appear on both sides of the fabric.

All of Faburiq's cotton pocket squares are made from Kasuri textiles.

Author: Aruña Quiroga

Faburiq is Obsessed with Fabrics!

               Everything comes back to Fabrics

What inspired the birth of Faburiq? It was the fabrics and the textiles that I found over time through my travels. But Japanese textiles made a lasting impression on me. The craftspeople that made these textiles have dedicated their lives to perfecting the art of textile weaving using the same looms and techniques for generations. These methods are found nowhere else in the world. But, interest, demand and appreciation for these types of fabrics are fading in Japan and within our generation.

Faburiq lives by the values of Mottainai - that the old can be made new and everything can be given life again. Mottainai is an old Buddhist word, which has ties with the Shinto idea that "objects have souls within them".  Mottainai is a tradition very much alive in the Japanese "cultural DNA" today, which has evolved into an international concept.

Fabrics aren't just the materials we use; it is what inspires us to create. Faburiq only works with select collectors of antique and vintage fabrics in Japan, who share a passion for textiles that are made with integrity and purpose. From the fabric to the ribbon that hems your precious square, to the paper that wraps your package, everything is made with the utmost care and nothing is wasted. Every bit of fabric is saved, crafted and given a chance to be part of your life.

On my next blog post, you'll learn more about the types of Japanese fabrics and the techniques involved in their making. Stay tuned!

Author: Aruña Quiroga

         Indigo Shibori at a Japanese textile workshop

                                    Sashiko Stitching