Light
enough to wear in the spring and cozy enough to wear in the fall, this gorgeous
shibori scarf is perfect any time of
year. We purchased it in the town of Arimatsu, a shibori center since 1608.
Shibori designs have their own names, and the one here is called miura, supposedly named after the
doctor’s wife who brought the art of shibori to Arimatsu. While shibori is
currently a fashion world darling, there are only a handful of artisans making
it in the traditional manner today.
The
ancient craft of Shibori, still practiced in Arimatsu today, is a precise
resist-dyeing technique. Fabric is folded, twisted, compressed, stitched and
sometimes tied to create complex designs. Different techniq...
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The
ancient craft of Shibori, still practiced in Arimatsu today, is a precise
resist-dyeing technique. Fabric is folded, twisted, compressed, stitched and
sometimes tied to create complex designs. Different techniques result in
different patterns: to make the diagonal stripes called allashi shibori, for example, the cloth is wrapped and bound around
a pole. After the cloth is tied, it’s taken to the dyer. Shibori used to be
hand-dyed in a tedious process using wooden barrels, but in recent years,
Arimatsu’s dyers have started to use electrically-heated dyeing machines, which
has dramatically speeded up the process. Today you can find shibori on catwalks
from Paris to New York, but its spiritual home is and always will be the lovely
town of Arimatsu, Japan.
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