Registration opens June 22nd at 10am.

2015 Maiwa Textile Symposium

Workshop: Journey Into Indigo

Danielle Bush & Sophena Kwon

$350 includes 85 lab fee

September 8, 9, 10 - Class Limit 16

Maiwa East: 1310 Odlum Drive, Vancouver BC

Working with indigo is a journey that connects us to people, places, and cultures. Each indigo vat has its own personality and each comes with its own traditions, history, and stories.

This workshop will take students through a number of recipes for creating a healthy working indigo vat—including the thiourea, ferrous, fruit, and henna vats. Students will explore the benefits of each vat and learn how to choose the right recipe for a particular project or environment.

Indigo is a versatile dye that lends itself perfectly to shaped resist, clamp resist, and numerous other traditional techniques used for millennia all around the world. In this three-day workshop, students will work hands-on, manipulating cotton and silk fabric to discover all the depth of shade possible with natural indigo. 

Instructor Bios

Danielle Bush is the manager of Maiwa Supply. Her career in textiles began with sewing and fashion studies at the University of the Fraser Valley. Upon completing courses in design, drawing, drafting, and construction, she was accepted to Maiwa Handprints to do a week-long practicum in the textiles collection. In her words, “It changed my life.” 

Since 2011 Danielle has developed and taught workshops for the Maiwa Textile Symposium.  In 2009 Danielle represented Maiwa at the International Shibori Conference held in France and in 2011 she was a facilitator for the Maiwa Natural Dye Master Class taught by Michel Garcia in Bengal, India. Danielle has a deep understanding and aptitude for dye techniques and creative process. Together with Sophena Kwon, Danielle travels to India each year where she helps manage the Maiwa studio.

Sophena Kwon has grown up with Maiwa as a family business. In 2009 she studied with Michel Garcia in France; in 2010 and 2011 she assisted with natural dye workshops in Peru and India. In 2013 Sophena assisted in natural dye troubleshooting at the Living Blue Cooperative in Bangladesh. Since 2012 she has been co-teaching with Charllotte Kwon and has helped deliver workshops at the Penland School of Craft, Canandaigua, and Shakerag.

In addition to her natural dye work, Sophena is a skilled photographer and clothing designer. Sophena travels each year with Maiwa to work with artisans throughout India.