The Kikkō no Hana — Japanese Ceremonial Silk Knot Bag, Kiku and Kikkō Lattice in Black and Vermillion

Kikkō no hana. The flower set within the tortoiseshell. A vivid vermillion hexagonal lattice frames a single great chrysanthemum on a deep matte black ground.

A Japanese ceremonial silk knot bag, cut from a fukuro obi at the Renaras atelier in Amsterdam.

The silk is deep matte black, heavily brocaded with raised thread that gives the surface real architectural weight. A large kiku chrysanthemum and stylised ginkgo and momiji leaves sit at the centre, built in burnished gold and soft silver. Around them runs an orange kikkō lattice — the tortoiseshell hexagon long associated with longevity and protection — drawn in vermillion and mustard yellow. The contrast is high, the composition formal; this is an obi woven for ceremony rather than for the everyday.

A bag for nights with weight to them — a black wool dress, a winter opera, a New Year's evening in someone's good apartment.

The silk is the original obi face, designed and finished into a knot bag at the Renaras atelier. Knotted self-closure, silk lining. No metal touches the silk. No clasp, no hardware, no zip.

Renaras: Japanese ceremonial silk, reimagined for daily life.

Each piece arrives with its own passport from the atelier — a small handmade record of the silk's first life and its transformation, signed and dated in Amsterdam.

One silk. One story. One piece. Never repeated.