a different kind of craft

***Warning:  I am going to get all philosophical on you.  And I haven't even had any wine.  Promise.

These stunning vintage Japanese textiles take my breathe away...they are called "boro," and they are garments and other coverings (such as futon covers) made long, long ago by the farmers and peasants of Japan's last 200 years.  Have a look:

Patched and re-patched, these kimonos tell beautiful stories from Japan's past.

These garments were made by people sitting in the shade of farmhouses, using every single scrap they could...

Meticulously and entirely hand-sewn, they show the marks of a thousand fingertips.

 

Like the quilts of Gee's Bend, they make me think that perhaps the stories we tell with our making should be as simple and as meaningful as this.  Perhaps we need to create more from necessity, rather than to simply gaze upon something or just to say, "I made this."  Doesn't the value of an object lie at least as much in the usefulness it has served, as it does in the time it took to create it?  Isn't it these objects' pasts which make them beautiful?

Lots to think about.  I've always been of the opinion that it is the making of the thing, the "process" which provides it's beauty.  Made well, with heart = value.  But perhaps it's more than that.  Perhaps the item must be needed, to be valued.

Sadly, this is totally outside my way of thinking.  But I'm learning.  Learning to patch, to mend, and to make-do.  And it feels so good.

These textiles inspire me.  They have had lifetimes of use, and show their age just as beautifully as an elderly woman's wrinkles tell me of the laughter and tears of her lifetime.  I just love that.

***

All of these images came from the website of a gallery in Brooklyn called SRI.  As stated on their home page, "SRI is a by-appointment textile gallery specializing in antique Japanese folk textiles, highlighting the indigo-dyed cotton utilitarian fabrics and boro--or patched and mended--textiles of old Japan."  It is beautifully photographed and filled with information about these wonderful pieces.  Don't miss it! 

Also, the owners have a wonderful blog, detailing their discoveries in the world of vintage Japanese folk art, and it is delightful.  Then, too, they've posted photos of their Brooklyn home here, which you simply must visit.  So very generous, these folks!  (Stephen Szczepanek is the regular contributor to the blog--thank you Stephen!)

***

Thanks to you, too, for hanging in there with me on this one.  What say you?  Are we in the crafty community perhaps too attached to just making something, having a product?  Or, in this age, is it just to be expected?  After all, everyone must make a living, and if you can do it crafting, then, by golly, that's wonderful!  I just don't know.  Something to ponder, I guess...

Cheers, my sweet friends.

xoxox.
 
  
 

Comments

[karen]

i am swooning- beautiful!!!! thanks for the journey!

[Leah]

Oh those are fascinating and gorgeous. I thought of the Gee's Bend quilts too. And I definitely think the usefulness of something handmade and all the use it has been through adds to the beauty. It's interesting to see the transformation in something handmade too, from freshly made to well worn and and well loved.

[Katie]

You know, maybe this explains why I feel sad when I sell something I made...I don't get to see it used. I feel a sense of loss each time I ship something away.

[Jim Austin]

Here's a link to 100s more very old Japanese boro textiles:
http://www.kimonoboy.com/catalog.html?category=Sold_Boro