Journal

Essays on Japanese textile history, craft, and the culture of ceremonial silk — alongside guides to caring for and living with ceremonial silk objects.

The Eloquence of Small Things

An idea arrives once, if you are lucky, and changes the angle of everything. On the antidote to noise: the particular eloquence of a single made object, and what it...

The Eloquence of Small Things

An idea arrives once, if you are lucky, and changes the angle of everything. On the antidote to noise: the particular eloquence of a single made object, and what it...

The Sleeping Surface

The nagajuban, the silk underrobe beneath the kimono and seen by no one but the wearer: on pattern made for private knowledge, the most discreet luxury.

The Sleeping Surface

The nagajuban, the silk underrobe beneath the kimono and seen by no one but the wearer: on pattern made for private knowledge, the most discreet luxury.

The Grammar of Colour

Iro, the Japanese word for colour, also means feeling. On the Heian system of two hundred named hues, and how ceremonial silk still speaks that grammar.

The Grammar of Colour

Iro, the Japanese word for colour, also means feeling. On the Heian system of two hundred named hues, and how ceremonial silk still speaks that grammar.

The Patchin

The patchin is the traditional Japanese bag handle: two turned wooden rods, joined by the silk body of the bag. The silk loops over the rods and the weight of...

The Patchin

The patchin is the traditional Japanese bag handle: two turned wooden rods, joined by the silk body of the bag. The silk loops over the rods and the weight of...

The Cloth That Remembered Everything

The furoshiki, one of Japan's oldest continuous objects: a square of cloth with a hundred folds, no hardware, and the knowledge of how to tie it.

The Cloth That Remembered Everything

The furoshiki, one of Japan's oldest continuous objects: a square of cloth with a hundred folds, no hardware, and the knowledge of how to tie it.

Cherry Blossom Season in Japan — What It Taught...

Hana-fubuki, the flower snowstorm, and mono no aware: what one week of cherry blossom teaches about impermanence, and how that quality lives in ceremonial silk.

Cherry Blossom Season in Japan — What It Taught...

Hana-fubuki, the flower snowstorm, and mono no aware: what one week of cherry blossom teaches about impermanence, and how that quality lives in ceremonial silk.