I’m really pleased to say that the Portland Japanese Garden has asked my close friend and colleague, Kei Kawasaki of Gallery Kei in Kyoto, and me, to mount an exhibition which will run through November.The show, called “Mottainai: The Fabric of Life, Lessons in Frugality from Traditional Japan,” opens on 4 November and is on view until 27 November.Both Kei and I are planning to show some of the highlights from our collections and we will be exhibiting some extraordinary and rare pieces.  In order to illustrate the breadth of traditional Japanese textiles Kei will be showing bast fiber textiles: wisteria, linden, hemp, ramie, paper, paper mulberry, etc., and I will be showing cotton boro textiles.  I’ll be exhibiting a range of types, from everyday utilitarian textiles to large, complex garments.The images here are details of some of my pieces which will be in the show.We’ll both be in Portland this coming week setting up the show: I’m really looking forward to it.  Kei has produced a beautifully illustrated catalog for the show for which both she and I have contributed essays.  I’ll let you know when it is available.I will be updating the webshop as per usual this Wednesday at 11 AM New York time.  *As I’ll be in Portland until 5 November, any order placed from 30 October through 5 November will be shipped on Monday, 7 November.*If I’m able to do so, this coming week I’ll blog some images from the set-up at the Garden.  Stay tuned….

In Japan a kotatsu is a traditional form of heating one’s home.  Imagine a small brazier over which a table is placed.  Layers of square cloth are placed on the table to keep in heat, and the family would sit around the table with their legs under the covers to soak up the warmth generated from the brazier.
This mid century cotton textile is one of the layers of cloth that would have been draped over the kotatsu.  It is hand stitched from a variety of hand loomed and commercially produced cottons which have clearly been recycled.The kotatsu cover is essentially made of two layers: the backing is of an olive green power loomed cotton.  On top of this, puzzle pieces of cotton cloth were arranged with some slight overlapping.Where the irregularly shaped pieces on the top layer of the cloth did not meet or overlap the green cotton backing is exposed–and the random, triangular areas of green cloth enhance the visual interest of this kotatsu cover.The kotatsu cover measures 60″ x 58″ or 152.5 cm x 147 cm, which is the standard size for this kind of utilitarian cloth.