On the bank of the Shinjo river in the historic town of Katsuyama is the Hinoki gallery. Behind the cloth “noren” that hangs in the doorway, Yoko Kano runs a textile studio that has transformed this tiny Japanese town.

The noren in Katsuyama (Okayama Prefecture) are a collaboration between the local residents and Yoko Kano. Each individually crafted design contains a personal meaning for the people who work in the shop it decorates. “My work is to express their personalities as faithfully as I can in the cloth. It’s great to have a relationship with people I see every day where they can tell me exactly what they expect to see in their noren.”

On the shores of a small island, situated in the inland sea of Seto, sits the town of Naoshima (Kagawa Prefecture). It was here, in 2001, that Yoko Kano was invited to make noren for 14 private homes. The project sparked a revival in noren use and highlighted the relationship of textiles to the expression of an architectural and personal individuality. The noren also bring the art of dyeing and design into the mind of each person who walks through the town.

Join us for an illustrated walk as Yoko Kano and her daughter Kazuho explain the origins of the noren project, what it has meant for Katsuyama, and how the noren are made.

Yoko entered the University of Art and Design Joshibi in 1966 and graduated from the design courses in textiles. An accomplished dyer and weaver, Yoko made noren for commercial clients before beginning the noren project in Katsuyama and Nashima. She owns and operates the Hinoki Gallery