Maiwa’s obsession with natural dyes is well known. What is less well known is the work that we do behind the scenes each time a shipment of natural dyestuff arrives in our warehouse.

Our role is a bit like that of a master vintner who evaluates multiple grape harvests to make an exceptional wine. We do a complete set of sample tests to evaluate the shade and strength of our shipment. Dyes from natural sources will change with each season. If there has been only little rain one year, the concentration of dyestuff in the plant will alter. So we often combine and blend stocks from multiple years to ensure that the raw dyestuff will yield consistent results. 
At Maiwa our policy is to acquire the raw dyestuff in its most elemental form (wood chips, roots, petals) so that we can ensure purity. We then process it into the form (usually a powder) that works best for the artisan dyer. We use natural dyes extensively in our own production, so we can ensure that each package contains a product we would be proud to use ourselves.

On Saturday October 27th, 2018, Charllotte Kwon and Tim McLaughlin delivered the THREADS lecture — "Kinds of Blue: The Natural Indigo Revival." Each year the THREADS lecture presents some aspect of the work of the Maiwa Foundation. This year the lecture followed up Maiwa's presence at the 2017 Indigo Sutra conference in Kolkata, India with details of teaching dye technique in rural Bengal.

The lecture also included an historic survey of Indigo use in India. From it's early discouragement on clothing worn by Brahmins to its ascendency during the time of the Mughals, to its world dominance during the British Raj, to its industrial synthesis at the close of the nineteenth century. All aspects of indigo's history influence how it is used, perceived, and appreciated today.

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On October 25, 2018, Shunji Ohashi delivered his lecture "On The Mend: Traditional and Contemporary Japanese Boro." Shunji had just finished teaching the last day of his 4 day workshop and he claimed to be down to "1% of my power - very tired." Yet he still seemed to have much more power and energy than most of us have at 100%. In fact,  "high energy" was probably the only way to describe the sold-out evening.

Shunji led the audience through traditional Japanese Boro textiles and explained the history and conditions that led to their development. He then showed how the technique of remaking, patching, quilting, and stitching is being used in contemporary fashion and design. Throughout his lecture Shunji's humour, energy, and passion for textiles were inescapable.





Shunji Ohashi was introduced by Amber Joy Muenz:


At Tim Mclaughlin’s lecture last week, he talked about the Maiwa Family and just how special it is. I’m newer to this family, but not to the concept of finding that deep connection.  Living in Tokyo in my 20s, I too experienced what would become my “Tokyo family”  -  with people of like minds and ideas, people I felt privileged to be amongst. This week I am over the moon to be bringing my Tokyo family together with my Maiwa family.  It’s almost like bringing the boyfriend home to meet the parents. But a lot less pressure!

I first met Shunji Ohashi when I was living in Japan. I met him through my good friend Sophie, now his wife  -  she first saw him tap-dancing on stage in Japanese Geta - wooden platform flip flop sandals at a little club we frequented in Tokyo.

The minute you meet Shunji, there's a warmth and brightness about him that makes you want to know more about where this excitement for life comes from. When Shunji would travel to Tokyo by train from Okayama, we shared conversations about creativity, expression and making. We would exchange the names of vintage clothing stores and antique markets in Tokyo and Okayama, the Denim Capital of Japan.

As a young man Shunji registered to study fashion at London College of Fashion. But just before he left he saw a tap dancer on the street in Shibuya. Shunji was floored. He approached the man and asked if he could learn. The performer told Shunji “Buy tap shoes!” So that day Shunji went out and did just that. And the next day he returned for his first lesson. He was inspired by the dance but also by the shoes. He considered how they were made and … he changed his major from fashion to shoe design.

Living in London, Shunji would pay his £400 rent with his tap dancing.

When he arrived back in Japan, Shunji started work at the revolutionary design house: Kapital. Just this week we learned that his persistence got him that job, after spending the night in a sleeping bag on the doorstep the head office - he burned in their minds the image of a young man determined to join their team.

He stayed 7 years at Kaptial - Where he learned the intricate craftsmanship Kapital is famous for. For 3 years Shunji spearheaded Kaptial’s Kountry line, which has a strong focus on intricate/labour-intensive design and hand craft.

Kapital never works with photoshop or any other digital design tools: so Shunji would hand-stitch every sample he designed. Because the factory was just round the corner from the design studio, he would walk the samples over himself when he went for meetings, often bringing sweets to the craftspeople whom he has enormous respect for.
But his deep connection to cloth and style he inherited from his family.

Shunji's grandfather owned a factory that made kimono fabric. His paternal grandmother is passionate about kimonos and has an enormous collection, some of which we worked with this week in his Boro workshop. His maternal grandfather was so passionate about fashion that he would travel to Tokyo — an eight-hour round trip in those days — just to buy a hat. That Grandfather used to buy clothes for Shunji. It was his grandfather’s style of extreme over-layering (so much so that his shoulders would ache) that influenced Shunji’s love of over-layering.

Shunji’s style motto became: kyabetsu no you ni nanmai kiru  - ‘dress like a cabbage’.

After being sought out by the denim innovator G-star, Shunji moved from Tokyo to Amsterdam where he currently resides. At G-star, Shunji is responsible for creating the concepts that drive whole collections, as well as making labour-intensive one-off pieces for celebrities such as Pharrell Williams and Jaden Smith. He frequently visits factories to oversee production and is deeply involved with G-star’s sustainability efforts. Shunji’s personal drive is to make products of the highest quality that are as timeless as possible, so that people will continue wearing them for a very long time.

Shunji has a strong connection to Japanese tradition, Japanese Buddhist philosophy, craft and textiles. He understands the patience it takes to learn a craft. Shunji embodies a reverence for knowledge and a hunger to learn from others. He is a teacher and a student: a man of depth, generosity, creative thought and great curiosity.

I am thrilled to introduce you to my good friend Shunji Ohashi.

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On September 22nd, 2018, Charllotte Kwon delivered the closing plenary address to the 2018 Textile Society of America Symposium. Meghann O’Brien set the tone by delivered the keynote to open the symposium. It was three intense days of textile presentations and events.

Charllotte addressed the 2018 theme: The Social Fabric: Pan Global to Deep Local in an hour long presentation that investigated the fabric of trade as a type of weaving between cultures, markets, artisans and techniques. There was a lively questions and answer session after the talk and discussion of these important issues carried into the final events of the TSA symposium. Maiwa and Charllotte would like to extend their appreciation to all the dedicated people who made the 2018 TSA symposium possible. It was truly an exceptional event.

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Photo by Mercedes Jelinek, 2015.

On October 23, 2018 Rachel Meginnes delivered her lecture "Striped Bare: Deconstructing Textiles and the Artistic Process." Rachel detailed her artistic career and talked about crucial moments and decisions. It was an honest and deeply-felt presentation with emphasis on how artistic motivation and studio practice are combined to create meaningful work. Rachel also presented a diagrammatic figure  for understanding the success or failure of an artistic work to communicate with an audience. This figure sparked many questions from the audience after the talk.

From the "In Studio" section of Plainweave Studios

Rachel was introduced by Tim McLaughlin:

I was walking myself through the work of Rachel Meginnes in preparation for her return to teach and speak at Maiwa. I though how, in late winter, the day is sometimes wrapped in a white-grey fog. The air itself seems to drain the colour and contrast out of everything. The world becomes subtle; like an old billboard, bleached by the sun, weathered by the wind, washed by the rain. Wood silvers. Cloth unweaves itself, paper blisters and tears away.

And then I encountered Rachel’s statement: “Colour and surface should not be mere facade but rather a result of intent and effort over time.”

I read and reread that statement. I liked it. It seemed to indicate something true: That colour and surface are rewards of a kind. But I also caught a hint of contradiction in it. Colour and surface are the result of intent and effort. But who’s intention? Who’s effort? In a beautiful piece of cedar wood, silvered by the sun and found on the beach … where did the effort come from?

I’d like to suggest that Rachel’s statement is a lot like her artwork. The more you focus on it, the more it expands and draws you in. If you question it - it offers a suggestion of an answer, and then an alternative answer.

Rachel has spent a long time divining the subtle nature of process. She began her artistic career as a weaver, she studied textiles and indigo dyeing in Japan, she completed her MFA at the University of Washington, she co-owned and operated a rug design company producing hand-knotted, Tibetan carpets for the interiors trade. In 2012 she shifted gears and embarked on a three-year residency at the Penland School of Craft. Since then she has looked into the depths of process, surface, colour, technique and intention. Whatever truths or contradictions she has found there she has expressed in objects and artworks.

Please join me in welcoming Rachel Meginnes.

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On October 16, 2018 Tim McLaughlin delivered his lecture "The Poetics of Textiles" to the Maiwa audience. It was a wide ranging lecture touching on Carlyle's Philosophy of Clothes, John Ruskin, William Morris, Craft and Craftspeople, India, and our relationship with handmade things. Tim brought in Pablo Neruda's Ode to Things and drew a line from poetry all the way to Iris Van Herpen's fantastically staged contemporary clothing.



Tim McLaughlin's lecture was introduced by Charllotte Kwon:

It is a pleasure for me to be the one introducing Tim McLaughlin’s lecture this evening

Many of you here know Tim McLaughlin and know all that he does to make Maiwa shine.  But I want to take this opportunity to introduce you to Tim McLaughlin - the artist, the writer, the chemist, the book designer, the ink maker, the photographer, the traveler, the film maker .  .  .

Tim holds an MA in Philosophy of Science from the University of Western Ontario.  For over 25 years he was active in experimental radio and hypertext fiction - for which he is included in the Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada. In 2014 Tim took second prize in the PX3 Paris Photo Competition for his photos - Portraits Found and Taken.  In 2015 and 2017 Tim was appointed Shadbolt Community Scholar, graduate Liberal Studies, Simon Fraser University.  Tim has written for Hali Magazine, The Victoria & Albert Museum magazine and Surface Design magazine among many others.  Tim’s work is regularly exhibited in gallery spaces in Vancouver and the Sunshine Coast.  He co-wrote (with me) - the book -  Textiles of the Banjara published by Thames and Hudson - but in addition - you may not realize - he designed the entire book.

Tim is a designer extraordinaire - and in fact before coming to Maiwa, Tim was a sought after graphic designer.  After we contracted him to do the graphics for our huge exhibition in 2002 at the Vancouver Museum called Through the Eye of a Needle: Stories from an Indian Desert we found ways to keep him gainfully employed at Maiwa ever since.  Tim is one of the most creative people I have ever met.  He truly lives “the creative life” - He has a daily writing, drawing, painting, calligraphy practice and it is delightful to live amongst its midst. I get to be the recipient of many, many exquisite letters that come from imaginary countries - countries that he has mapped; designed the commemorative stamps for imaginary leaders and statutory holidays.  He created his own Saffron Gin and then designed an entire campaign for a launch of it in India.  I believed this for some weeks until I realized all his copy, drawings, meetings etc were fabricated.

He is often up in the wee hours making extracts from plants for inks and pigments, photographing in perfect tender morning light, cooking journals in the oven, painting portraits with iron gall ink, writing letters, writing New Yorker reviews for imaginary books.  You know - normal 6 am activities.

This evening Tim will take us on a journey of his musings - The Poetics of Textiles - so aptly named for a journey only Tim could take us on.

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On October 9th the famed India Flint wrapped and bound us in colour, leaf, and cloth. She conducted the audience in the magic arts of organic pattern making. It was a fantastic night of stories. Here are some photos from the evening.

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On September 20th Maiwa East's gallery space was animated with the sound of a flying shuttle. On exhibit was a new selection of weavings, displayed as artworks. At the loom was Amy Putansu herself, weaving and explaining what she was doing. Amy is especially well known for the ondulé technique whereby the weaver is able to transcend the rigid grid of the woven structure.

The event was introduced by Tim McLaughlin

A wave is a beautiful emblem of how graceful nature is — why break it? 

In fluid dynamics, a breaking wave is a wave whose amplitude reaches a critical level. 
Beyond this level the graceful sinuous form of the wave is transformed into turbulence. At this point, simple models that describe wave dynamics often become invalid, particularly those that assume linear behaviour.

I can’t say how happy I was to run across this definition of a braking wave. Because the “linear behaviour” that can no longer be explained fits perfectly into a weaving analogy. 
We all know how a wave breaks on the shoreline, how it overreaches itself, balancing for a moment against gravity.  

I encourage you to think of these weavings as what happens when you leave linearity behind. These are powerfully subtle works - deceptive in their simplicity. In each one you will find a weaver and her childhood growing up by the ocean. If you look deep enough you will find the emotions gathered while far from water, and a longing to return to a woven rhythms as old as life itself. 

Amy's exhibition ran September 20 to 23rd.

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