I am your Yuzen

“I am your Yuzen” is a line of fukusa (silk cloth) made by a ceramics brand named “sione.” This involves textiles that utilize color samples produced in the process of traditional Japanese yuzen dyeing. The president of sione, Ms. Kawahara, explains her new enterprise:

1. How it started
I saw a yuzen artist mixing colors and trying them on cloth. This casual yet efficient method produced harmonious colors of great beauty. It also showed the value of hand-painted yuzen at the time when most dyeing is done by inkjet printing. I made this fukusa because I wanted people to discover handmade yuzen.

2. Product marketing
Japanese sensitivity is often expressed in the clean dots painted by yuzen artists. The samples are all actual colors used in kimono. No two samples are the same.

3. Kyoto traditions
If you take an old style and force people to accept it, nobody will appreciate it. People are more apt to like something pop and cute. Kyoto is a city with an ancient history, but we shouldn’t be satisfied with that label. It’s important for us to create new traditions that can be passed on to future generations.