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By Kendra Sitton
San Diego is hosting the first NUNO exhibit on the west coast in over a decade. The market leader in innovative modern Japanese textiles has an exhibition entitled “The Language of Textiles” in the Japanese Friendship Garden until February 27th.
“Hundreds of years of tradition in Japan have influenced today’s art, which is also combined with a lot of high-tech. Tradition, innovation – the balance between the two is really an interesting topic and something that NUNO textiles really reflect, ”said Chad Patton, Managing Director of Material Things, who curated the exhibition.
NUNO means “fabric” in Japanese and has grown into a world-famous textile company since Reiko Sudo was founded 35 years ago with the legendary textile designer Jun’ichi Macaw. While many museums display the company’s innovative textiles and often sell their products in gift shops, this is the first exhibition specially curated for Material Things, the international distributor of NUNO based in San Diego. The exhibition spans 20 years of Material Things textiles sold since its inception.
“It was really fun because it gave us the opportunity to look back on things that [NUNO] that were made in the last 20 years that we may have forgotten or haven’t looked at lately, ”said Patton.
The exhibition became a complicated process for his small team, usually busy selling the textiles by the meter to interior designers, fashion designers, and Hollywood costume designers. Together, the team selected 30 textiles to display in the Inamori pavilion.
Patton turned to the Japanese Friendship Garden because although Material Things is based in San Diego, many of their stores are in Los Angeles and New York.
“We wanted to do something locally because we are based here,” said Patton.
The 30 textiles in the exhibition showcase three of NUNO’s unique methods of manufacturing textiles.
Kibiso fabric made from parts of the cocoon that were previously wasted.
First, the Japanese government turned to Sudo to try to revive one of the two remaining silk factories in the country. When she toured the factory, Sudo was interested in a pile of junk. It has been stated that they were the rough outside of short fiber silk cocoons that were considered unusable for hundreds of years. Instead of simply creating a new silk pattern, she worked with women in town to create a completely new fabric from the discarded kibiso fibers. An exhibition area shows how the short fibers are processed into woven threads.
Another section shows NUNO’s patented origami folding process. The three-dimensional fabric is created by heating polyester to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. The plasticity of the polyester ensures that the wrinkles become permanent when heated to this temperature.
The third textile that the exhibition focuses on is called the spring vortex. While the double-woven silk is being made, the loom is stopped and the springs are manually tucked into the pockets before the loom is resumed. The feathers come from wild birds eaten in restaurants such as ducks and pheasants, which means the feathers are essentially recycled into the pockets of the silk fabric.
The exhibition opened on November 12th to great public interest. Patton was thrilled to be showing modern Japanese art rather than historical pieces. The backdrop of the traditional garden compensates for the changing Japanese aesthetics.
“The modern Japanese aesthetic is very, very interesting and something that has been influenced by tradition, but today’s Japan is just as beautiful and interesting as Japan was 500 years ago,” Patton said. “I wanted people to see that.”
Until February 27, visitors can visit the exhibition and experience modern Japanese design for themselves. General admission to the Japanese Friendship Garden is $ 12. The garden in the heart of Balboa Park is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Reach out to Kendra Sitton kendra@sdnews.com.
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