JAPANESE CRAFTS: KURUME KASURI AND TEXTILE NETWORKS 

Article published in Fashion Tech News, Artisan column — #Series 002: Crossing Perspectives. Focused on Japanese craftsmanship and cross-cultural perspectives. (Englisch Version / Japanese Version)

"In spring 2024 I had the opportunity to stay at the Kurume Kasuri weaving company Shimogawa Orimono (Yame, Kyushu) for about a month to study the process of making the Japanese textile Kurume Kasuri. The production of Kurume Kasuri is a complex and time- consuming process, encompassing numerous intricate steps. In total the production of a machine woven Kurume Kasuri textile involves about 30 steps and takes at least 2-3 months. The local textile has a history that dates back over 200 years and has been passed on through many generations (Vera Bracklo)." 

"During my time at the workshop and in the community, I truly felt that it is a place of creativity, exchange and excitement that honors its pasts, but also searches for ways to sustain the traditional craft in the future. It showed me how fulfilling it can be to engage about textiles with like-minded people, but also how important it is to get to know the local history and culture to truly understand their essence
(Vera Bracklo)."