Japanese Ceremonial Silk Table Runners and Placemats

The obi was woven to be read along its length. A table is the one piece of furniture that lets it. Our runners carry the obi's full length across a dining table or sideboard; our placemats take a single motif each. Every piece is cut from Japanese ceremonial silk at the atelier in Amsterdam and finished for the table you use daily, not the one you keep for guests. No two are alike, and none is repeated. For ways to place a runner in a room, The Silk Journal has a note on styling Japanese silk table runners; the same obis, hung rather than laid, are in our wall tapestries.

Renaras designs and reimagines existing Japanese ceremonial silk into contemporary pieces for daily life — this is our mottainai: the bringing of new imagination into a living tradition.

Questions we are asked

What size are Renaras table runners and placemats?

Table runners are 150 × 30 cm, the full readable length of the obi; placemats are 45 × 30 cm and carry a single motif each.

Can a silk table runner be used daily?

Yes. Each runner is finished for the table used daily. Spot clean only and keep away from prolonged direct sunlight.

Are the runners and placemats made from the same obi?

Some are. Where a runner and placemats come from one obi they are noted in the listings; every piece is otherwise singular and never repeated.

Where are the pieces made?

Every runner and placemat is cut from Japanese ceremonial silk and finished at the Renaras atelier in Amsterdam, and ships worldwide from there.