Beginners weaving course at Kawashima Textile school 2023

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It is early June 2024, exactly a year after I completed the 2-week beginners weaving course at Kawashima Textile school in Kyoto, and I decided to share my experience one year on. One reason why I stopped updating the blog was because it is a very time-consuming task, and due to the pandemic, my life (like everyone else’s) changed drastically. Once I lost the incentive/ momentum/ habit, it is rather difficult to pick it up again. However, lately I have been thinking that it would be a shame not to share my experriences, especially my craft journey in Japan over last spring/summer.

The 3-month trip to Japan was originally planned for spring/summer 2020, but sadly it got postponed due to the pandemic. The Kawashima Textile school is a well-known vocational school in Kyoto that specialises in weaving. Every spring and autumn, it accepts only 5 international students onto their weaving courses out of hundreds of applicants. I was thrilled when I was got accepted, so it was particularly disaappointing when the school decided to stop the all the courses due to the pandemic. I refused to get a refund and opted to wait three years, which seemed to impress the teachers/admin of the school! Before the course, I knew very little about weaving and have only done some Saori/ free style weaving, which is quite different from traditional weaving. Shockingly, despite being the oldest person out of the 5 students, I was also the one with the least experience, which was a hindrance for me.

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Founded in 1973 by Kawashima Textile Manufacturers Ltd to commemorate the 130th anniversary of the company, the school is one of the oldest textile academies in Asia. The internationally-renowned Kawashima Selkon Textiles (the company changed its name in 2006) is a fabric manufacturer founded in Kyoto in 1843, and it is particularly known for its tsuzure-weaving techniques used for large-scale stage curtains. Secludedly located in the suburbs North of Kyoto, the factory, school and museum (appointment only) are largely tourist-free, with only one small supermarket and one konbini near the railway station.

Surrounded by by mountains and beautiful nature, the school and dormitory were designed by renowned Japanese architect Shozo Uchii, and was warded with the Building Contractors Society Prize in 1975. The weaving room up in the main school looks absoultely splendid with row after row of vintage looms and equipment. Most of the tools that we used are original/vintage items and rare to find these days. Hence it was a real privileged to be able to stay and study in this environment and get acquianted with some local textile students.

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Over two weeks, we learned to dye woollen yarn using acid dye (not my usual preference, but I guess it is ok for this occasion), set up the large loom (which takes over a day), read the charts and weave some basic patterns. It all sounds pretty simple, but I found out that it is really not as simple as it sounds!

A lot of my friends were curious to know my reason for doing this course. I have never thought of learning to weave until I saw a few natural dyers who could weave too. It made me think that perhaps I could dye and weave by myself in the future (very idealistic). Also I enjoyed some saori weaving previously, so I thought I would make sense to learn the basics.

It turned out that I am completely hopeless at weaving and tying knots! I am a right-brained person, and I reckon that weaving is more suitable for people who are logical and diligent (which I am not). I never knew that setting up the loom would be so time-consuming – it requires a lot of concentration and meticulous care. After making a few mistakes while threading, I had to redo it all over again, which was very frustrating. Even while weaving, my threads constantly got tangled, and the more I tried to untangle, the worse it became, so I ended up spending hours after dinner in the weaving room trying to fix my mistakes.

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After struggling for 2 weeks, I finally completely the 2 pieces thanks to Emma sensei’s patience and teachings, and I even received a certificate for it. Thankfully, I did not enroll onto the kasuri (double weaving) course right after, because I was told by my classmates that it was very complicated and even they struggled with it.

Despite it all, I am glad that I took the course and learned the basics of weaving, meanwhile I realised that weaving is not for me as I much prefer freestyle weaving, natural/indigo dyeing, shibori or block printing. However, it was interesting to spend three weeks staying in the suburbs of Kyoto exploring places that I normally would not visit if I was staying in the city centre.

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Ichihara is a quiet suburban town reachable via bus or the Eizan railway from the centre of Kyoto. The railway line ends in Kurama, a popular day trip destination for visiting the sacred Mount Kurama and its famous temples. The train journey is very scenic, with some special scenic trains and a maple tree tunnel, which I believe would like spectacular in autumn. Interestingly, the seating inside some trains were woven by Kawashima textile company, and I even spotted some small ‘photo-like’ woven tapestries at the Ichihara train station. It is easy to miss them as they look like ordinary sightseeing photos (see above)!

ichihara shrineichihara temple  ichihara templeichihara shrineichihara shrineThe Daijingu-sha Shrine behind the railway station

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Over the three weeks, my classmates and I would spend the weekends exploring either the city or its surrounding area. On weekdays, I would sometimes go for walks around the town after dinner. Since the town is located in the mountainous region, with Kurama river running through it, it is very tranquil as few Kyotojin would visit this area, let alone tourists.

I think the school has certainly picked the right location for its students as there isn’t much to do in the surrounding area, but nature is plentiful, thus very inspiring for the students. Sadly I learned that local students (especially male) who apply for the weaving courses have been dwindling in recent years as less youngsters are interested in becoming full-time weavers in this day and age. There are exchange programmes with schools overseas, and students can also get apprenticeship/jobs at the factory, but I am not sure if these are ‘appealing’ enough for them. I know that the school also runs short courses on weaving and natural dyeing for the locals, so I hope that these would help promote the school and the craft of weaving. It would be a real shame to lose the school as it is part of Kyoto’s craft heritage, and it needs to be preserved for future generations.

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The art of paper: folding, pleating and manipulation

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Unlike children today, when I think of my childhood, paper played a crucial role in my early days. Aside from drawing on paper, I collected paper bookmarks, writing paper, and stickers; I dressed up paper dolls with my classmates after school; I did origami and paper cutouts; I learned calligraphy and practised on translucent paper; I made birthday cards for my parents… It would be fair to say that paper dominated my childhood.

But like most people these day, I am spending more time in front of the computer, and I sorely miss the days of touching and playing with paper. It is not easy to find a course that focuses on paper art (and I don’t mean origami or pop up books), yet I came across a Paper art course at the The Camden college and I quickly signed up for it. I loved it.

 

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Years ago, I bought paper artist Peter Jackson‘s book ‘Folding techniques for designers’, and I have tried (and failed) to create some paper structures from the book. I have also applied some of the techniques onto textiles with some interesting results. Hence it was encouraging to know that our tutor/designer/artist Thomas Prendeville also used this book as a reference for the class.

 

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Manipulating textiles using folded paper moulds is fun too

 

One of the most basic techniques is learning to score, which means creating a crease in the paper so that it can be folded easily. Thomas suggested using a ‘dead’ pen and a metal ruler to score lines on the paper. Another important point to remember is the rule of mountain (high) and valley (low), which applies to everything we fold. Folding straight lines are not difficult, but patience is required if you are folding larger pieces. And it becomes more challenging when you fold curves, so the weight of the paper has to be considered.

 

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Paper folding feels like meditation to me. It is a meditative practice and you cannot rush it. Yet when you see the results, you would appreciate all the time and effort that has been put into it. Also, the possibilities are endless, and you can certainly apply the skills onto other materials like textiles and metal.

Architects like Thomas Heatherwick often applies paper folding techniques in his architectural work, e.g. the vents for a substation cooling system at Paternoster Square in London (2009) was derived from a piece of A4 paper. And for decades, Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake has applied the pleating techniques in his collections. He invented the ‘garment pleating technique’ back in the 80s and launched the Pleats Please collection in 1994, which is consisted of light, stretchable and wrinkle-proof garments for all shapes and sizes. In recent years, Miyake and his Reality Lab. team also launched IN-EI, an innovative lighting line produced by Italian lighting company Artemide.

 

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It always amaze me to see a flat piece of paper being transformed into a sculptural piece. I also love the shadow and light created by the ‘mountains and valleys’, which look beautiful when being photographed up close.

 

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After scoring and folding for a few hours a week (plus homework time), we all improved and became quicker by the end of the course. Meanwhile, Thomas was keen to get us to make larger duplicates so that we could create hanging sculptures by connecting mutiple pieces together. Before I knew it, my place was filled with paper sculptures!

I thoroughly enjoyed the course and would love to carry on folding or apply the techniques elsewhere. Now all I need is paper, time, and a large studio.

Watch this space.

 

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Other interesting paper artists:

Richard Sweeney – an English paper artist who creates large sculptural paper installations. He has also published books on the subject.

Fung + Bedford studio – I became acquainted with Angela Fung at a Christmas design fair. Angela is a paper artist and jewellery designer who makes origami-inspired jewellery and large scale architectural paper sculptures for many U.K. art institutions.

Foldability – a London based design studio run by Kyla McCallum, a set designer and paper artist who has been working with origami for over 10 years. She also sells paper art and lighting on her website.

Aditi Anuj – a textile designer from Mumbai not only produces large-scale paper sculptural installations, but she also conducts workshop and collaborates with other artists.