Quilt Festival Tokyo: adventures in fabric

5 Feb 2007 Category: Arts & Crafts, Events & Exhibitions, Features, Japan

Quilt Festival Tokyo: adventures in fabric

Petty officers guiding the way through the urban jungle: who said quilts always have to depict boring flowers… There’s no motif whatsoever that you won’t find on a quilt. From the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival 2007: Miyashita Kikuyo's "I Love You." She explains: "Japanese people don't say this often. But if we could say it like the foreigners, this would be a more peaceful world."

“You thought you’ve seen it all? Then you have to join PingMag for a special field trip today! We checked out the newest patterns, motifs and textures: plunge in the very special and colourful world of quilts!!!”

“What??? That old grannies’ hobby indulged in front of the telly or next to a falling-apart fireplace?”

“Yes, exactly! Together with several thousands of Japanese ladies (and few curious husbands) PingMag went to the gigantic Tokyo Dome in Chiyoda to check out the hot shit in quilt design at the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival. Believe me! There is a lot to learn from the perfectionism of Japanese housewives…”

Written by Verena

For those of you unfamiliar with the matter of the Fabric, Needles, and Thread Exhibition: there was not only a serious Japan Quilt Grand Prix competition with earnest works of fine art, you could also see a special display of 70 Leading Japanese ‘quilters’ who made up their creative minds about how to depict the four seasons on cloth. Then there were all sorts of ‘basket quilts’. You know, the usual sort of fruit basket motifs… And of course various other exhibitions inside this gigantic exhibition like for example an antique collection, Korean patchworks or the fine art of Japanese embroidery.

This was the first thing to catch my eye when I entered the ‘quilt exhibition’:

Awesome! Martial Arts gone wild on a cloth! Though the title suggests something different: “Energetic Pichiku Pachiku” by Chiyo Harada. A collaboration works about ‘Pichiku Pachiku’, meaning ‘people’s chit-chat’.

Quilt Festival poster - now this is of course exactly what you would expect…

Busy atmosphere at the Tokyo Dome, packed with curious - mostly female - folks.

No way! The info at the entrance said a quilt “evokes a sense of warmth and practicality on the part of the beholder”. All right – I’m looking forward to sit on my not so spacious balcony on a pleasantly cool Tokyo evening, wrapped in this Martial Arts quilt that depicts an energetic young man practicing… My neighbours next door will have a good laugh and believe that I must have been gone nuts - finally.

That also comes close to what my chief editor said, when I told her I wanted to check out the quilts-exhibition.

“QUILTS???” - was her reaction!

But there you go - I found lots of pretty stunning works and that is exactly what I am going to share with you today! But first - I’ll just give you an impression of how you enter: you arrive in this gigantic basement area underneath the Dome – and while all these hundreds of security guards search your hand bag at the entrance for dangerous goods… (a needle maybe?) you might react just like me and find yourself in total awe of the absolutely huge scale of this hobby. Quilts are hot! I tell you!!!

Above the view from the inside: a whole microcosm of its own, a world populated by colourful cloth. And don’t you dare to show a mean grin on your face! Wait for the true masterpieces to come: the eagerly executed perfectionism of people with time…

Recurring patterns embedded in strong colours: “Brilliance” by Junko Shibada.

Detail from “Brilliance”. She explains: “This is the beautiful sight of the sun reflected in the sea.”

Seriously, the medium alone is a challenge of its own: you have to work with different types of cloth. Due to their different qualities they aren’t always easy to put together. But the tricky thing is that you basically have to “draw” with a sewing machine! And you’d have to be rather detailed with that! Imagine sewing a patchwork together of thousands of tiny little pieces of cloth in order to create a fantastic painting! Hard work for sure…

Toshie Shinohara: “Punahou St. and S. Beretania St.”. She says that in 1980 she spent some time in Honolulu at a really quite place on the countryside. There was only the wind, the scent of flowers and sometimes beautiful rainbows. While making her quilts today, she’s still thinking fondly of those days…

Minor sidestep: this would be a whole new chapter, but the titles are very important, too. Read for example something dramatic like: “The Flow II”, or follow the newly found spirit in the title “Takeoff! My Happy World!”. What are these odd sounding but nevertheless truly original ways trying to describe those bold adventures in fabric!?? I don’t know but I think they are great!


Two fine examples for abstract sewing art: genre bending of quilt and the old Japanese traditional cloth called Tenugui…


More sensuality on a Tenugui: a romantic motif with a title saying something like “Japanese towel encounter with a flower.” Interesting…

Live Action!

At work:
Time for a little impression of what the term of the ‘sewing art’ means: have a look on the pict on the left to see a creative at work. How focused and accurate her eyes focus on the up and down jumping needle…

The two pictures below: careful with your good old blue jeans! If you can’t find them in your drawer, have a look on auntie’s lap! I wonder what all those hardcore puristic ‘quilters’ overseas would think of this clever profanation… Would you believe that: I even spot some stonewashed pieces woven into this jeans patchwork. Even the quilts are not free of this damn retro 80s look! Thank god I couldn’t find any sweatbands attached… yet!


Modern jeans patchwork: “Mixing Japanese style with Western chic” by Yoshimi Kobayashi. This is actually a Kokatsu, a Japanese table cloth to keep your legs warm underneath the table.

The story behind goes like this: Yoshimi Kobayashi’s daughter asked for a patchwork mat for the table, a so called Kotatsu. She found an old pair of jeans with lots of holes… et voilà! Recycling, ladies!

But let’s return to the pure heart of traditional embroidery and move on to some elegantly modernized contemporary quilt works:

Wonderful traditional motif with cherry blossoms and the abstract outline of a tree…

It’s time to step a little closer to the details. Definitely, everything is about texturing and this is the playground for witty ideas, pushing the limits of the usual quilt design a bit further. See on the depictions below how the ‘quilters’ prove an imaginative mind, and, more important, how they are able to realize it on just a piece of common cloth:


Detail of “Sky Diving” by Tomoyo Hosokawa. Can you see the parachutes?

…The divers gather in the sky for a formation, creating something analogue to the kaleidoscopic quilt texture with their parachutes.

If you think that sewing facets is not enough, then why not experimenting with laced ribbons to make buttercups and daisies. Learn more about this stitching originality:


Folding your handkerchief neatly to stick out of your dinner jacket is nothing compared to these blooming cherry blossoms! Detail of “Sakura” by Haruka Kameyama, age 14. She made this for her junior high-school graduation.

Detail from Hitomi Hanaoka’s “Winter in 2006, the Last Letter to my Dearest Mother”: it was a harsh winter when Hitomi’s mother died… When her dead body was lying in the coffin covered in lots of white flowers this sight just struck Hitomi. This quilt bears the message for her mother: was she happy in her life?

Tokyo’s PJC Kazuko Onishi presented the launch of their unbleached lace line.

You can get lost in these beautiful ornament stitching shown on the blouse by PJC Kazuko Onishi, an embroidery lace company from Tokyo. They make dresses, skirts and delicate tops, bags and purses - all with a romantic bobbin touch. I wonder if they’d make some fancy handbags for fashionable boys in Shibuya, too… At the Quilt Festival they presented their new clothing line, completely manufactured with unbleached lace. Beautiful!

It might be a stereotype that ‘quilters’ don’t indulge so much in difficult thinking matters. That’s so wrong! ‘Quilters’ are deep thinkers, delving in philosophic questions, worrying about the future generations. Have a look for yourself:

Shoko Kikuchi’s opinion: “After earth is destroyed and everything disappeared, it will regenerate and produce something new - an utopia. Then, will this be the real paradise or not?” Shoko Kikuchi’s work is titled “The Gate to Another World”.

More details to come: cool snowman on the left and cooking recipes on the right. These go perfectly well together. Keep an eye on both the exact and accurate handicraft. We are amongst perfectionists here:


Noriko Hayashi explains: “Think of the cold winter landscape with these white worlds, peaceful and pure in mind.” Her work is titled “My Dream of White”.

A former graphic designer working with typography, Kumiko Fujita now uses her skills for making quilts: “The Warm Quilt of a Square”.

Already enough! Oh no, you can’t leave yet. With these strong impressions in mind you have to sit back and relax a bit. So visit one of the coffee tables along the Quilt Festival and have a nice cup of delicious green tea served with a sweet sin:


Quilt and coffee table stick together, no doubt. But there’s no coffee here! Gotta be green tea for the Japanese ladies!

There are my Manolo Blahniks! Detail of “Whereever We’ll Go” by Daniela Cassani.

And here we come to our last quilt for today. I don’t know… I just thought this was kind of “heta-uma” as the Japanese say: so odd, that it is actually genius!

“Whereever We’ll Go” by Daniela Cassani. She explains: “Surely shoes are more important than any other clothing, as I can tell a women’s spirit from only looking at her shoes.”

Thanks for those most inspiring patterns, textures and motifs today at the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival!!

15 Comments

  1. I feel like going out and get me a kilt. Great stuff!

    Posted by: Aeiou 11235 on February 6th, 2007 at 1:06 am

  2. i would have never thought that quilts would be so hot! kudos to “brilliance” and “my dream of white”

    Posted by: heri on February 6th, 2007 at 2:39 am

  3. I think “Brilliance” really is. No mention of cost? How much do this works of art go for? I’m guessing they’re not very cheap!

    Posted by: dan on February 6th, 2007 at 2:44 am

  4. Amazing!
    Last term i did a textiles workshop at my art and design course. I was worst than bad sewing even easy stuff, bu this is amazing!

    Posted by: SupremeMonkey on February 6th, 2007 at 8:20 am

  5. The quilt by Junko Shibada is quite fantastic, but you haven’t seen anything like this master quiltisan - http://www.pagequilts.com - quilts are “the new black.”
    The quilts here use such amazing colour combinations.

    Posted by: max on February 6th, 2007 at 5:34 pm

  6. [...] PingMag - Quilt Magic: Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival 2007 “You thought you’ve seen it all? Then you have to join PingMag for a special field trip today! We checked out the newest patterns, motifs and textures: plunge in the very special and colourful world of quilts!!!” PIngMag - never knowingly underpunct (tags: quilts Japan Tokyo design) [...]

    Posted by: Heraclitean Fire » Links on February 6th, 2007 at 8:20 pm

  7. Brilliance and Brilliant…as much as I create there is always more and more..such wonderful creative women..

    Posted by: Valerie Page on February 7th, 2007 at 4:07 am

  8. What a wonderful site. Enjoyed This very much. The colors and designs are an inspiration. Kept revisiting the sight throughout the day. Thank you for thinking of me, Leticia. Diane

    Posted by: Diane Gomes on February 7th, 2007 at 10:08 am

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    Posted by: gravestmor » Some sweet quilt action over at Ping Mag : : architectural ephemera on March 15th, 2007 at 2:40 pm

  10. Such movement and color. Enjoyed this very much especially Hitomi Hanaoka’s “Winter in 2006″ How are the flowers made? Just lovely.

    Posted by: Diane Gomes on August 17th, 2007 at 1:31 am

  11. No mention of cost? How much do this works of art go for? I’m guessing they’re not very cheap!

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