Tea towels in a textured heavy weight organic cotton, great for dyes, fabric paints, silkscreens, or block prints. Hem sewn with cotton thread. Includes a loop to hang the towel.
Size approx. 56cm x 84cm (22" x 33")
HANDKERCHIEFS
Organic Cotton
Lightweight organic cotton handkerchiefs, great for trying ideas on cloth. Dye, stitch, print, or paint - hem sewn with cotton thread.
Size approx. 25.5cm (10") square.
SHAWLS
Organic Cotton Mull
This buttery cotton mull shawl has a beautiful hand and is a pleasure to dye.
The generous size means you have a substantial shawl, scarf, wrap, or sarong.
It has a clean finish with a rolled hem.
Size is approx. 117cm x 210cm (46” x 82”).
NAPKINS
100 Pack
Organic Cotton
Hemmed organic cotton napkins - great for colour and pattern. Ready for your next design project.
Size approx. 48cm (19") square.
NAPKINS
6 Pack
Organic Cotton
Hemmed organic cotton napkins - great for colour and pattern. Ready for your next design project.
Meet the Makers — where we shine a light on how artisans are using Maiwa Supplies.
In this feature we call out makers who are using Maiwa's natural dyes. From production dyeing to paint-making; starting with natural colour gives craftspeople an edge. Craft is storytelling with objects, and these colours have a story unlike any other. These are exceptional craftspeople - check out their websites and instagram feeds.
They naturally dye yarns for the Ranch 01 line of Brooklyn Tweed (among other clients) ... and they are one of the most inspiring young companies we know. Tyler Stoltzfus and Winona Quigley started the Green Matters Natural Dye Company with a 3 gallon stock pot and an idea: to bring pollution-free colour to the textile industry by using all natural dye ingredients. They grow many dye plants themselves, they source from local, sustainable options, and when they want to access classic dyes that are unavailable locally — they get them from Maiwa.
See also Brooklyn Tweed's profile of Green Matters Natural Dye Company
and Knitting with naturally-dyed yarn.
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CATHARINE ELLIS
Catharine Ellis made a name for herself early on with the publication of her book Woven Shibori. In 2016 it was revised and updated to combine this groundbreaking resist process with natural dye technique. For many years now Catharine has pursued natural colour. We highly recommend her blog, Natural Dye: Experiments and Results. Her two most recent posts evaluate oak galls and describe the indigo harvest in Okinawa.
Catharine has a long-term teaching and researching partnership with the Danish dye chemist and textile engineer Joy Boutrup. We are happy to say that when they reach for natural colours that can't be found locally, they reach for Maiwa's natural dyes. Keep an eye our for their forthcoming book: The Art and Science of Natural Dyes.
She travels the world modeling her popular knitwear designs. She can put together a beautiful natural dye palette on cloth or yarn; in paints or inks. She spends a lot of time on dramatic beaches, windy hilltops and deep in the forest where she finds inspiration for her colour. She is a teacher, photographer, and publisher. Where does she get her classic dyes? Maiwa.
Sabahar is an Ethiopian company that hand weaves cotton and silk textiles. They raise the wild silk themselves from eri moths. When they add colour - all of it is natural.
Kathy Marshall, a Canadian by birth but a twenty-year veteran of Ethiopia, founded Sabahar in 2004 and still works as its General Manager. Her passion for preserving and celebrating the rich weaving tradition of Ethiopia combined with her desire to create respectful and ethical work opportunities for marginalized people have laid the foundation for the company. Maiwa is proud to supply Sabahar with all their non-local colour.
There are two videos about Sabahar we recommend. Check them out in the links below:
On September 25th textile specialist, collector, trader, author, and adventurer John Gillow took the audience down the silk route. John was equally at ease talking about the influence of the Great Game (the nineteenth century rivalry between Great Britain and Russia) on shawl motifs, as he was relating how he found a certain textile trader in Afghanistan and then, remarkably found the same trader twenty or thirty years later. It was a visually rich evening of stitch motifs, weaving technique, textile history, trade politics, intrigue, and stories.
On September 13th, the Maiwa audience were treated to a look behind the scenes into Sue Stone's life and art. Beginning with the influence of her immediate family (her Dad's work ethic and her Mom's talents as a tailor) Sue gradually broadened out her reach until she was explaining the confluence of modern graffiti with historic and family photos. Sue has worked consistently to re-imagine her world and to take this creative vision and render it in stitch-work, cloth, and textiles.
Sue had works on display at the lecture for the audience to examine close-up. One of Sue's many talents is looking at the human face in terms of geometry and then rendering this geometry in needle and thread. The results are both intimate and artful. In the era of social media, when photography is ubiquitous, the results serve to move the portrait back into the realm of rarefied object. Each work thus becomes a special encounter, invested with Sue's imagination, creativity, and humour.
Read Sue Stone's WordPress blog here.
Sue Stone was introduce by Bonnie Adie.
It is an expression of the strength of the women who make it.
We carry some of the finest hand embroidery being done today: bold, forceful, Banjara work, jewel-like pieces from tribal communities living in the Kachchh desert in Gujarat.
As befits this exceptional work, we have set the embroidery into products meant to last a lifetime: bags from the Jawaja leatherworkers, pouches made up from strong quilted fabrics, and beautiful cushion covers.
After years of working with artisan weavers and knitters, Maiwa has developed its own line of yarns. These yarns are everything we have been looking for in a spun fibre. Our Linen Honest Yarn shows the raw beauty of Belgian flax, spun in Bengal. It offers a wonderful buttery hand and the exceptional weight and presence that only linen can give. Linen is one of the more challenging fibres to dye naturally, especially to dye well. But we feel we've nailed it. Beautiful rich jewel-like tones that are both deep and even. Lighter colours that are consistent, level, and delicate without being weak. Colours that are as satisfying to work with as the act of creating.
Not to be missed — textile events happening on Granville Island in conjunction with the Textile Society of America Conference in Vancouver.
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EVENING ON GRANVILLE ISLAND
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 21, 2018
Nicole Dextras Demo 6 - 6:30pm & 8:30 - 9pm
Nicole Dextras Performer 6:30 - 7:30pm
Public engagement weaving with Marina Szijarto 6 - 9pm
Indigo Dyeing with Sophena Kwon 7:30 - 8:30pm
TEXTILE WALKING TOUR
GRANVILLE ISLAND
SEPT 17-30, 2018
A self guided walking tour highlighting 24 locations on Granville Island will be displaying a full range of creative textiles being made in our backyard. Many pieces have been produced to pair thematically with the businesses and studios hosting them.
The Main Maiwa Store will have a special in-store exhibition.
CLICK HERE to see the walking tour map and view the participants.
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NICOLE DEXTRAS
at Ocean Art Works
1531 JOHNSTON STREET, GRANVILLE ISLAND
SEPT 21-23
Award winning environmental and performance artist Nicole Dextras will be featuring one of her innovative costumes made specifically for this event from yucca bark and other sustainable materials. A performer will also demonstrate how to process yucca fibres and other aspects of her practice.
Celebration and Fibre artist Marina Szijarto will be inviting the public to participate in a hands-on community tapestry weaving event. Using found objects, recycled fabric, plant materials and our words of gratitude written on paper, we will weave together an Autumn Equinox/Harvest full moon tapestry on looms made from local driftwood and fishing net twine.
On Tuesday September 11th Catharine Ellis and Joy Boutrup presented: Between Science and Art: Collaboration in Textiles. The sold out lecture kicked off the 2018 season for the Maiwa School of Textiles.
The audience were treated to a wide ranging talk that included fibre engineering, weaving, dyeing, shaped resist and fibre art. Both Joy and Catharine are well established figures in the textile community it was a delight to have both of them on the stage at the same time. The subjects bounced back and forth between both speakers often with equal quantities of humour and insight. The audience were left with a beautiful contrast between two vital approaches to working with textiles.
The lecture was introduced by Tim McLaughlin we are happy to include his introduction here:
We all love textiles - we love making them, finding them, using them.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that we feel close to our favourites. We spend a great deal of time with them. When we can’ find a favourite we get anxious. They are like children to us -they need us to look after them and we need them to feel that warm intimate sense of satisfaction.
Let us agree for a moment that it is almost as if they are alive. Let us say that when we make them we give them birth, and then as we use them they live out their life. … But after that what happens?
Following my analogy, what happens to some fortunate ones is they get an afterlife. The afterlife is to reside in heaven - a museum, a textile collection, or an institution which can restore and conserve them.
As someone who studies textiles I have tremendous respect for conservation departments. They are often the source of detailed research into dyes, fibres, techniques and history. And because they are often associated with public institutions the results of that research often flows quite freely down to people like myself, who have an a deep interest in all these things.
Tonight we have two gifted individuals from each side of the life of textiles. We have Joy Boutrup who has a background in textile engineering, has spent considerable time in conservation departments and who is a specialist in textile chemistry. Her services have benefited textile and fashion designers at two design schools in Denmark and she has taught at the school of conservation in Copenhagen. She is a consultant, lecturer, teacher and as we will see tonight, a collaborator.
Catherine Ellis, is a weaver, dyer, author and artist who has spent most of her life giving birth to textiles and encouraging others to do the same. She is a kind of textile midwife.
Catherine has taught at the Penland School, at Haywood Community College, she has exhibited throughout America, and is preparing an exhibition for Australia, she is actively involved in the Surface Design Association, the World Shibori Network, and she is a founding member of the Southeastern Fiber Educators Association.
Catherine is the author of Woven Shibori first published in 2005 (a revised updated edition was published in 2016). Catherine and Joy are also co-authors in a soon to be released book titled:
The Art and Science of Natural Dyes: Principles, Experiments and Results.
