 Good afternoon everyone welcome to Cooper Hewitt and welcome to this wonderful public program that we have I'm Matilda McQuade. I'm deputy director of curatorial and head of the textiles department and One of the curators for the scraps fashion and textiles and creative reuse exhibition And you'll be hearing from my colleague and co-curator Susan Brown in a second Just to let everyone know this program is being live streamed So in case you have friends or colleagues that couldn't make it tonight or couldn't get into the sold-out Program, I encourage you to come back and visit our website very very soon, and you can see it in its entirety And also for those who has everyone seen the exhibition Okay, all right if you want to see it again You can go after the museum is open till 9 tonight That includes our shop too where you can buy the catalog and lots of our things from the scraps exhibition So I encourage you to visit. I wanted to just extend a few thank yous because this exhibition Couldn't have been possible without a few people and a few companies one of them is on Eileen Fisher Who was from the very beginning? incredibly supportive and More than in many many different ways The Kobe Foundation has been a great supporter of the textile department over the years, and they helped very much Additional funding is by Ryoine Kaikaku Company LTD and then also the city of Soroka in Japan helped Reiko pseudo and Nuno Corporation and many of the materials that you see in the exhibition. I Also want to extend a big big. Thank you to the education team and especially Susanna Brown who's head of our public programs who makes all of these events possible? And it's a huge huge effort on her half on her behalf So many thanks Susanna and So just to give you a overview of the format for the evening. I'm going to Have Susan Brown Associate curator and textiles to come up and introduce the three speakers are going to be speaking tonight very briefly about 10 minutes and Then I'm we're going to all come up And I'm going to moderate a discussion with them for about a half an hour and then we'll throw it open to the audience So please jot down your questions and save them to the end and please ask away This is an incredible opportunity to have these three designers here and we're really really happy about it So Susan come on up So as Matilda said we're thrilled to have been able to bring these three designers together for this exhibition and To have all three of them with us this evening Louisa Chavez a the founder of re-editioning in Milan Christina Kim the founder of Dosa in Los Angeles and Rico pseudo of Nuno in Tokyo For all three of these women recycling is at the very core of their design practice Each is using pre-consumer waste to create beautiful and innovative products, but they're not merely salvaging waste They are celebrating the intrinsic beauty of scraps By using skilled hand work to add value to cast off materials They're providing meaningful work for artisans preserving local textile traditions and connecting to the long global history and tradition of textile reuse First we'll hear from Louisa Chavez a When she was the head of research at Menteros etta a silk weaving mill in Como, Italy She became acutely aware of the huge amount of waste generated daily by the textile industry So she developed a hybrid material which transforms textile waste into a durable Waterproof material by embedding it in polyurethane She founded her fashion accessories brand in 1996 and today She's invited by companies around the world to work with their waste including coincidentally Dosa and Nuno Next we'll hear from Christina Kim who founded her fashion brand Dosa along with her mother in 1984 She works with artisans around the world to preserve local textile traditions and to provide sustainable livelihoods over the past 30 years her design process has involved To include a system-wide approach to reuse and recycling including using cutting room waste to create new products Widely recognized for her sustainable design practices Christina was named by Time Magazine as one of its innovators of the year in 2003 and received the Innovation and Craft Award from aid to artisans in 2006 and Finally we'll hear from Reko Sudo. She founded Nuno along with Junichi Arai in 1984 and from the beginning It has been considered one of the most innovative textile companies in the world Cooper Hewitt started collecting Nuno's work in 1987 Nuno's textiles combine technology and handcraft in extraordinarily creative ways Since 2008 Reko has also served as an advisor to Muji on their recycling initiatives Rimuji. So first, please welcome Luisa Chirise Thank you Susan and thank you Matilda first of all for putting the three of us together and Thank you to everyone. I see lots of friends very sporty friends. So We start I believe Design is the expression of a thought and an emotion within a product expression of an idea Design is also making choices and solving problems I would like to introduce in the limited time we have three small projects beside a Brief mention on the tabletop shown in the exhibit scraps I would like to mention the large golden tabletop, which is part of the exhibition because I think sometimes maybe I Just wanted to make sure that this one thing is not missing so that We'll go with the first picture the tabletop actually is made out of leftovers From the cut of the bags and the accessories we make So it's close. It's a kind of a way we use to Close our production cycle which starts from scraps and gets to the very end So I will show you some of the material like in this case is paper hashi paper this very very thin paper is used as a weft for misogyny textiles for obi and Sometimes when it's not not perfect the golden plating Then we get it as a discarded product for this wonderful company Hoso in Kyoto As well as the salvages that they give us out of you know weaving also with this metallic paper so Salvages come out also in accessories is one of the classic classic from the beginning 20 years ago And then we use also metallic yarn Metallic yarn that comes, you know from end of cone so or again discarded material the the reason The only choice I mean I Made for the table top is that in such a beautiful room of the Cooper Hewitt You know the gold could be really the right the right choice Of course, so we use this method of reusing the scraps from the cut in other Materials colorful or non-color first, but this is you know, this was the choice I made for the exhibition So The first real project I'd like to talk about is part of what Murray most used to call the re-edition is special is more personal work and It shows how a same material can give three different forms I mean can give different forms three in this case. I Started from a border of a rug. I First decided to over died which is a method that in war and difficult times people used to do to sort of refresh their clothing and And also, it's very nice to see when you over died a colorful material How, you know, you get all the different shades from the colors below then I Realized that when when I was playing with this border, you can see there was some part of sort of coiled Fringes When I cut them, I mean them the color didn't really go deeply in the in the inside so It sort of bloom like a flower this color coming out and and there and there so I used it So this is the first piece out of the border Then I started to play with it and it you know the color came out And this is the result of this sort of blooming flowers and then I took the little tails which made a Nice coma sort of floating, but sort of fixed on the surface. I really try and to alternate making and Observing what I make and what happens in my hands because that's a Very I think useful way to do to be able to be surprised by you know, what you're not expecting and Create really something new The second project I would like to show actually is not a very recent project, but because I Starts from selveges, which is my main so I mean my main basic material and This project was Designed before I even knew about plastic technology. So we're talking about about 25 years ago when I was as Susan said very precisely in charge of the R&D department of a textile company and And so I saw this waist I loved it and and I thought to take the silk part only the silk selveges and Brought bring them back to fiber. So to create a Sort of recycled hundred percent recycled silk The waist was consistent. So we could really use it as basic element The selveges, I mean the Sorry, I have So this is This is the material that came out the cell I mean the Brought into fiber spun again into a fairly high twisted yarn and and wore as a plain weave which I thought you know could be the purest and and the and The color was left as natural as possible because we get all the All the colors from what was the I mean was what was Was the starting? So I kept it as natural as possible. I have the richness of the chromatic components Together with some metallic because often in accessories and apparel Jakarta textile there is lurex So to give some variation though, I thought to actually this is also a felt we made a Felt which is obviously needle felt it not because silk doesn't have a proper Property to felt but so was needle felt it To have in any case and a hundred percent silk felt and then in order to give a variety of of A variation of colors. I decided to use natural linen and wool as weft so This project but the reason why I'd like to talk about this project Which I still like even if it's very old is because it's become current because it now it's in production part of the Bodenner collection and Also because and of course since it's in production we use the salvages. So it went back to to the origin So the third The last project that I'd like to mention is Started from a full rug that a person didn't want to use any longer and Asked me to transform in our tables. So we do table tables and table tops. So I usually don't really cut a rug, but in this case I did it because I had an idea and I we I used usually I use remnants really worn out material. So a full cut Good quality. I don't like to cut this textiles, but But in this case I decided to do it because I imagine a multifunctional space a Rug for me is a definition of a living space as much as a bag is a definition of movement and nomadic life In this small space, you have a part Which is the one sort of beige Which is more protected and functional So it's coated polyurethane coated and a part more tactile and soft, which is the rug part a Side to eat and a side to read I'm always interested in seeing if and how design can influence habits People have it So I'd like to show you a few more pictures of this Oh, I have the table top and and this is actually with worn out material But same principle this part is really like you can wipe it off and that part is more like to sort of Sit and do what you need to do Okay as a conclusion and as a methodology Meteorological premise I would say First we have a tradition to know try to understand and respect Then we have a moment with all the given possibilities and in that moment we make our choices Free from the past and the future Here comes the big value of handmade work Where you have a situation in the handwork manual work and I mean craft work of Concentration and relaxation at the same time which is an ideal situation for the merging of an idea I've always referred to the simple often domestic and Anonymous textile tradition that brings values important for me relies on intuition and is less corrupted from overthinking Over structure, which are often an obstacle in the research of a sensuality simplicity and unity I think it's all Thank you. Hello everyone. Thank you so much for coming and At this phase I just wanted to talk to you about making of room 108 screen which Really allows me to talk about how you know using traditional technique and to translate to site specific project which Making of room 108 is So whoops. Oh, I think oh Francesca. I think I need help. Okay. I definitely did something wrong Sorry, so then I'll just I did Okay, this is my second powerpoint presentation Now there's something okay, it's moving to the next I don't know if someone can help it seems to be moving jumping to Raco's Hey, Raco, maybe you're next Susanna, are you here? Sorry Okay, so I think it just was out of order Sorry about this Show you my images. Okay, here we go. So 1976 I came to New York for the first time to celebrate by Centennial right and One of the museums that I visited was Cooper Hewitt Museum. So for me the the architecture Has always been a really important part of the work. I do and always making things that are in in inspired by the location so this When Matilda asked me to do Site specific project. I thought was really interesting that I get to remember 1976 so The room the physics that this is the physical space of the room 108 and I spend a little bit of time just looking at the space and Trying to see What it is that was really important for me to use as a design element and I love the the ceiling motifs and as well as the fact that you know this There are three beautiful windows that that I could use as a scrim and You know walking around for a while. I also had another memory from you know what let me try to do this So this is the room as is and I remembered going to Paris for the first time in 1982 and I remember seeing the church of Sanctuary piece and I just remembered something about the church of the beauty of the stained glass windows and somehow I felt like I could connect the Architectural detail of the room as well as the color and the geometric design of the Sanctuary piece to create a piece that that created a new Kind of combined effort, so In October Here we go in October 2015 I went back to Saint-Soul piece and really studied the piece and I just love the colors of green Because I imagine the show of this show would be starting from October as As it did and then it will go through the winter and I wanted to bring the element of green to the room for Couple of months. I mean six months, so and this is the first drawing I have done are using just the you know, they're just the collage of the Saint-Soul piece and kind of a trying to add to the room itself and From and then I came back, you know when I was in December I did some really good studies of the ceiling detail and I did a drawing rough drawing and it's from the photograph and just a really quick sketch and Then I did a little bit more architectural drawing. Whoops. Sorry You have to excuse me. This is not Okay, there we go. So this is more of the architectural drawing of each element from the ceiling and Then I did a layout based on the way the room ceiling design looked and then that one of the So when I walked around the The Cooper Hewitt I also noticed the color of the garden was very beautiful and I wanted to bring in garden to the room and it also allowed me to play with this lovely detail that we use which is called tickety and tickety is just basically a dot embroidery and Also You know that I know that a lot of textile pieces when you have it in inside the room at times The colors only look good from inside but not necessarily from outside So I thought of an idea to have one Application which will be on inside the room but the tickety which are these bright colors will be on outside So they will it will not have right or the wrong But it will have colors looking good from both sides and so then I did a actual size drawing based on the scale of the window and Also wanted to add some medallion designs and then kind of comparing the proportion of the medallion design versus the tickety design and Then after kind of looking at the proportions I went on full scale and these were what you were looking at and I also realized there were three panels and the center panel was much Greater and I wanted to make sure that these Motifs appeared to be same so the center panel is about 10% larger than the motifs of the a Right and left am I okay or you can and then I did I did a drawing that is a little bit more complete layout and Based on the size of the windows and I start collecting all the instructions and sizes and this is basically the Drawings that I do for the design to be worked out and this is for the larger one in the center and Generally, um, you know, I do so much better in full scale So on Saturdays and Sundays in our downtown LA factory when nobody's there I just take over the factory and go in full scale. So this is a full scale drawing just the layout of the one of the windows and then I Was starting to starting to do background color studies and the colors that I was I was really Wanting to create was that the background with a color of the ceiling silver color if you go to the room You'll see that as well as the background color of the Saint-Supé's church. And so I'm just trying to Work the colors and the next Five different saris that I've used are the colors for the background and Then also trying to balance the colors for the background. There are three drawings that I've done that's these are the two small windows and this is the center large window and Then I started working on Saturday and the smith with me in the app church. And these are the colors that I use our John Donnie and Again What I had to do was I had to make the drawing in full scale. So this is the full-scale drawing and Then I use the full-scale drawing to place where the cut Green elements would go so we could move it up and down and change the design as we imagine it without marking on the base cloth itself and And so this is mark this is working on the larger centerpiece and I'm up on the letter And I'm I'm asking Mona and Eva who was at that time our intern. I'm having them move the textiles around and Then also because this is a piece that's hung against the window We have high Hanging rack area. So we are actually able to see what it would look like So we all walk flat on the floor and then after I'm satisfied it goes against vertical and then all of this has to be marked all of this has to be taken off and fold it and send to India so Mona was working with me in LA for three four days and She will have to take it everything off because everything was going to be done by hand in India So this is just basically indicating where everything goes So it could be taken off the textile piece and fold it. So this is a small panel Another small panel and center panel. So this is just also wanted to share with you how I Work with a different, you know working with the artisans the kind of the system that I have built to For them to understand and for us to communicate So if I wanted to change any of these colors, we could reference it by just pointing at the numbers and And and then these were colors for the tickety. Those are the little dots and Always making them charts so they have reference and of already of course, you know They get all the pictures of the room pictures of the garden So they have a full experience of what I'm trying to do So then Mona took all of these went to India And I think that was July 31st and she probably left a couple days later But that's when I finished the drawing and the design and then this is the first layout They laid out exactly the way we planned it and then they basted it and then they put it against the window And I didn't like a couple of colors, so they had to change it and Then after that, this is Kamlesh who is the owner of this workshop We work in while we are working on the actual applique. He's cutting all the little tickety And so that one on the left is a beginning of hand stitching and then Applicating and they just do little partial designs for me that I hand drew and then They would email that to me and then during the day I think about it and I finish the design with the white out and that's what went back to India the same night and Then I gotta go back I didn't really care for the way they use the colors of the tickety So then I that same night I went through some of more of our scraps as you can see above and then I marked more very Variety of colors and this all again went back to India and as you can see this is in a workshop she's doing hand applique and Starting to make these designs And like I told you before I love the gesture of marking So she's just using pencil to draw the line and this was the very early Like almost semi halfway finished panel and they just did a quick markup of Tickety's and the same day I As well as they also sent me some ideas for medallion and Then again that same day I spent probably a couple of hours going through and I did more drawings how to add more tickety's and This went back and now they're adding the tickety's and this is the finished panel and They iron and that was being shipped meanwhile. They are working on the larger panel and again many women around and Then this is initial A center panel same day I did the drawings and this went back to India all via email and then Finishing up the piece. I wanted to give you a little bit of facts I'm not sure what it means, but I just wanted to share with you. I Spend personally by myself Just based just a drawing and the design about 34 hours but What's so interesting to me of my 34 hours Francesca? I might need you to help me with this just get the facts right, which is it took 27 people 295 hours and 37 days to complete three panels and what I think about when I see this We probably not even use more than 300 Francesca. Tell me maybe 500 grams of fabric But yeah, but we were able to create this much work without using any Machines it's all hand and I think about that a lot thinking about Environmental issues not enough work. I think Interesting facts. Thank you Hello I'm like a pseudo from Tokyo Thank you for Coming today. It's really really wonderful to have you all here and I'm very very pleased and honor to be here as well and together with Christina in Los Angeles and reason Milan Since the 1980s we have been Gathering and the reusing scraps each in her own country to create new design each in her own field So when my children and color told me about plans for this scrap sick Egyptian I saw yes, finally a chance to bring finding and reusing into the Spotlight We are all overwhelmed over joy to be here. I learned a textile company called Nuno We work with 50 local weaving and dying workshops all over Japan So far we've created almost 2,500 different textiles Japan's traditional main three fibers are hemp silk and cotton In that order the earliest remains of women seen a hemp fiber found at Turuoka Yamagata date back some 15,000 years to the Jomon era Silk is sold to have come from the Asian continent around the second century BC It used to be raised and woven everywhere, but now only two Production centers are left in the country 70% of Japanese silk comes from Usui Seishi knows Between the late 19th century major era and early 20th century Showa era Japan was the number one exporter of silk in the world, but Export fell After the 1929 market Crush and cheaper silk from other Asian countries Primarily China Friday the world market the demand for Japanese. Oh, sorry something miss Sorry, how do I? Yeah, sorry super high tech. I think It's strange. How do I move? Yeah Okay, yes, yes Okay, and next yes, okay so So this is the rose silk Turuoka reading will made up and normally like rose silk Thickness is Three denil which is like a 20% or 30% but our hair is like a 25 denil so one Silkworm sprit Three denil so normally we gathering nine cocoons so nine by three so 27 denil yarn will be used for kimono so Between the late 19th century. Yeah, as I said Strange Well, so the demand for Japanese silk father decline after the invention of nylon in 1940 from America Next not move This one Didn't move That's this one No Maybe she doesn't want to show up in front of you So yes, it's yeah, you can maybe know who she is One reason Japanese silk survives at all in that since 1871 and Meiji and Paris the Imperial family has continued to raise silk inside the imperial palace So also reading mill as well Amazing they can make their own silk for special event and this is the actual well So How do I return yes this Same as the pieces in the gallery Kaiten Mabushi we called Yeah, the same same one we brought from Japan so this is the emperors silk House, it's really beautifully done and special silk one very very special silk one called koishimaru which is Japanese like origin so she raised Koishimaru Since like Taisho era So koishimaru is the tiny one on the left right It's a really nice shape And left one is imported from about imported imported from China So industry has been subsidized and Protected by the Japanese government. However in 2008 the Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and the fissures Announced that the government would no longer support Japanese silk That's sorry. Just yeah still Okay, I can't move this Strange sorry, maybe you can help so this one how to how to move Yeah, so that's why I just wanted to use my own computer You are the two high tech mine is a lot of Yeah, I think Yes, yeah, no you can't oh Nihongo day you you so star up Sorry No, no, no, maybe that's fine It's not fine It's not fine. Let me just to change my computer. Is that okay? Yeah, because I just wanted to show you whole images Perfectly. Well, I just got the book from Imperial Palace and so well only two Images I got but I already showed Sorry, I'm so sorry about this so 2008 yes at the Minister decided to stop help like Japanese silk industry So in the last ditch before to survive the Turuoka silk corporation An association of Turuoka silk production Facilities came to me to try and save their industry Because government decided to not support anymore for silk industry in five years Time so that me 2014 will be completely No support so Through this this this request I received from Turuoka City But they they believe maybe Design will say like save the problem solve the problem but Ironically it turns out to be the creative use of scraps rather than design That saved them So this is the Kibiso which we brought from Turuoka when I visited Turuoka Not this pile of silk cocoon a waste discarded in a reeling mill Kibiso is a tough Outermost skin of the cocoon the very first fiber excreted by the silk warm for protection to thick and rough and the site Irregular for industrial weaving it was love at first and I was captivated and Immediately felt inspired to do something with these scraps. I took some home and Right away began experimenting with the material an average thickness of five thousand genie The application for the material seemed very limited at first. We asked retired woman From the silk reeling mill to weave and knit it by hand They created a variety of Kibiso products including hand woven fabric that was sent to Milan To create the bags For the hunting world global brand and had a hand crochet by retire woman and rice straw Left over after the harvest was traditionally used to make sandals called waraji in Japanese which are still worn by Kabuki actors and Made by hand locally in Turuoka So it seems natural to produce waraji using Kibiso Weaving Kibiso was still very difficult But I finally got someone in the Turuoka weaving cooperative to find a way to define the fiber Down to five hundred genials, which could be used for automatic machine looming Woven Kibiso doesn't feel sleek and smooth like silk. It's rough and Resilient it contains lots of sericin and amino acid contain compound Very similar to the national more natural moisture factor in human skin So researcher at the Kyoto Institute of Industrial Technology Conducted test on Kibiso Their finding showed it to be a very smart material with many useful moisture retaining anti-bacterial water repairing and the UV filtering qualities this has greatly added to it appeal and Popularity it's naturally because silkworm have to protect from the outer Skin so if the rain comes in silkworm will be die So completely waterproofed so each year we've added new designs So by now the collection of machine woven Kibiso's texture is large and We are still finding uses for our original hand knitted Kibiso including this lump by the late fashion designer Yogan rail and These stool hand crocheted by Nuno members Which won the young design award from Milan salon 2016 this year But not Nuno design designed by Young boy From the car automobile industry So this year I've been working with another a silk byproducts the last part of the thread Excluded by the silk worm So this is I don't want to touch this machine It's really So one cocoon yields 1,300 meters of thread the very last bit that stick to the metals spinning rod in cold ogarami Joshi ogarami means like on means like a deer spinning Fiber it's really nice way to say So it can be peeled off in small frames we all of Nuno members started to peel the Ogara Michoshi and one day my mother-in-law asked me they call something to do I can do to help She's 96 and I gave her this ogara Michoshi and she started Doing so hardly and then she had a backache and The doctor came and they what's happening and I said I'm so sorry I gave her a labor work and she said he said that's good. That's good. She has to have some Job and she can sleep maybe two days or three days in bed and she recovered so And some of it beats in that Collection or no no the gallery so laying out these flakes by hand like a mosaic We can make beautiful Membrane seeds we are exhibiting new works made from this Ogara me Joshi for the first time here in New York To my eye they look something like Buddhist robes case a case a robes Worn by mocks and run nands embody a noble property a property ideal of living Lightly in the world according to Buddhist tradition when the Sakia Prince renounced the palace to speak and Answer to human suffering the begged for food Wearing rugs Scavenged from rubbish pile and ditches even from Creme de creme metering ground Cramp tori and ground The scraps of clothes were then washed and pieced together into Rectangular clothes to just cover the body then died with three roots and bark In one sermon the Buddha taught never waste what has been given Do not discard even the smallest scraps of clothes that can still be used Just Christian art Ask what would Jesus do? I hear these are Buddhist in California Who asked what would Buddha recycle the Kibiso is waste material made pure and Precious the patchwork pattern of the robes also came from Buddha's teaching when he told his Disciples to arrange their begging was laid Out in squares and strips like the field the right They're Interdependent with to the heart of what I have always tried to do When creating texture at Nuno just recently we made this Kesa inspired Outer hanging for a new charge in Kyoto Nothing needs go to waste that real trash here is there is No such thing as scraps everything useful as long as we don't waste our imagination Thank you all for your listening to my recycle talk, and thank you for your patience. Thank you so much Thank you, and I apologize the technology Anyway, that's over So a couple of questions one it's pretty amazing it was really unplanned that Well, it's planned, but unplanned in the sense that the three of you are together up on the stage and in the show and Looking more and more into you know your profiles your bios you all started working in the same year in 1984 I mean you started your your businesses or You know more or less So I'm curious Did you know each other in 1984? Did you? When did you all first meet? Do you remember Or how did I mean how did you because you've worked together that came up so how did you? Meet each other You just saw each other's work Is this song yeah, I think I met Ruiza first so I met Ruiza in 1987. So she was in Kyoto a judging the competition, right? But yeah, I'm sorry. So yeah, and Junichael I was one of the judge. No, maybe I think I met you in your store. Really? I Because I've always said no because I met Junichael, right? I went to Shinkirio to see him I was creating textiles right before starting my project and I Think you know, I've always admired no no textiles So I think I went to Kyoto to be a judge in a competition Nishi Jin, but Junichael I was not It's okay, but I met yeah, but then I came yeah, but visited Nuno Yeah, oh, yeah, I just fall in love with your rudge rug weaving bag uses Mantello leftover material at the time you made a Rugs you sure? I Yeah, I still have that hand-waving bag. You gave me Okay, I think Luisa and I met in LA you came for sure me yeah when we were in the old 929 South Broadway Yeah, and I don't know we may yeah, I know why why because I had this project that I hadn't start the production yet but I already had was Into this recycling with also polyurethane material and the mother who was a fantastic woman of a dear friend of mine Said that you hi lay in Nathanson. She said you have to go and meet Christina Doza I Think so because and then because at that time I was showing these Kind of prototypes that were going to exhibition or something in in a store. Do you remember in right? Yes, yes a strip. Yes, and I think I was starting to work a lot with hand painting and a hand embroidery in China Yes, with an French English company who did this beautiful Wallpaper except that they were making the Gourney the Gourney, right? And we were creating all these beautiful clothing. They were all hand-painted from China And we were collecting strips at that time, and I think that's how we started. Yes Well, I started and then of course you said I'll give you the ways, right? Okay, so now we got Right, how would you hope that and right? Yeah, and raco. Um, I met Junichara I and he told me I was telling him I have this love for translucent textiles You know like Korean Fine fine hemp, but the other textile that I loved was pinya fiber from Philippines and I was Traveling and looking for these fabrics and buying them and antique stores Or so whenever I could and I was talking to Junichi about it and he goes, you know, you should really go to Nuno Because she has some and that's how we met back one of those black and white Black cotton and silk rope, but was already with plastic also inside. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, but this was I was good Yeah, yeah, yeah, this is self-made. Okay, okay I So When I was I'm thinking about your work. I think about it being all about preservation and preservation preservation so like preserving Preserving something like whether it's material in the case of Louisa But I think it goes a little bit deeper than that I'm being for Christina and also for you and you in terms of preserving traditions helping Weavers helping out of work Artisans, can you talk a little bit about that? Was that a conscious kind of thing to? Preserve for me definitely because I was very fortunate enough to grow up with a grandmother was very very you know had a fantastic hand skills and That was sort of the things that I remember most as a child and my grandmother would be constantly sewing something all the time and You probably all know the Koreans are very good at using whites and I was always fascinated by the way she used Handwork and mixing whites to create these surfaces And what I realized at that time was how unique we are as beings to be able to make something with the hands and Somehow that just became my mantra So, you know whether I was in elementary school junior high school high school and thanks to coming to America I I went to high school here and the first class that I took was a home economics And I just loved it I love the fact that you didn't have to do Academics that you could actually go to school and learn to do some fun things so I also associate handwork as fun and Great way to be unique because that's another thing that I realize as much as I think the machines are great Speed is great, but what I love is the gesture of a hand Mark of a hand Well for me was a little different because Well, I was a weaver to start it so I appreciate hand work as I said as a Also as a way to have that full control and relaxation as I was saying before to sort of create but and I Appreciate of course, you know, and I'm really happy that Handwork exists, but what I envision when I really knew about plastic technology which Was fascinating for me from the you know from the written formula on the blackbird So it was kind of funny because I saw that formula that complex symmetry and I just thought was a fabric So I started to you know, I really Used the plastic which is usually used To make shapes, you know molded into shapes as a unifier as a sort of In a modern felt So in fact, I wanted to sort of that's why I say tradition for me is very important as methodology as Values as but then, you know being in a Western country. I thought I envisioned the possibility to have a Textile and then eventually a product Which was hybrid Which was exactly, you know expression of the time being between With the feel of a handmade but with the functionality and the possibility of production of a Western country so even even You know design product designing is also you have to think about marketing in a way I mean you have to have the idea the expression as I said of of, you know A thought and expression of emotion Expression of you know, it doesn't have to be It expressed the the present but also I Think it's important to consider a design is is a product for an audience Especially, you know as it as it started, you know was an industrial product for a larger audience So here I could have a sort of an industrial mean I could make big quantities at with the with a very warm feel of an old blanket at the right price for a large audience and one of a kind which was also very sort of Contemporary if you can Allow me this because you know more and more Everybody was custom-made and so and also not just that but the that meant that in the making I mean I use leftovers, which means I don't know how much I have of each Material exactly and then gave me the opportunity so to also So Use I mean labor because there is a labor there is a Handwork involved in a very sustainable way You don't use a person as a machine But the person have to a certain extent given certain boundaries, which are what we find the design can choose I can you know be enjoy that moment and that's the value of it the of the product that comes out Is the enjoyment so maybe I'm just going to why now but no, but I think I mean in terms of what you're saying is almost preserving the authenticity preserving the creativity of the people who are the of the preserving that values right in a more for me was like I saw the possibility of doing in a more Contemporary I mean where we are now right where we are and for Reiko Reiko I know she you don't really know what preserve means, but it's like it's protecting it's keeping keeping it alive And what I think of in terms of what you're preserving I mean there's a number of things that you preserve in your work specifically with the kibbe so but it's It's actually keeping that that silk industry Meaningful and giving it a new life and in a way that's preserving the silk industry and I'm curious what In terms of Sirocca, how is that affecting? That city is it continuing to produce silk or is it I mean is it is the Preservation going to continue to happen even though the government doesn't support it Or do you think it's it has a very short life? actually when we started to Use kibiso and kibiso is becoming so popular now So that's why artists came to kibiso and tried to get material because material didn't really really recognize before we started to use originally they cut the kibiso and they didn't really really have a long Fiver so but When we started to use kibiso the system got been changed and becoming a Just one kind of a thread so so many things happening and Luckily Minister of trade industry decided to help because otherwise a Farmer will be Gone and Marbury tree didn't need and work worker and everything will be gone and Gunma prefecture This has supported by Kimono industry, but Turoka is like a younger or like Children of Gunma. They learned all the technique from Gunma when Meiji started so all the samurai becoming Well, they said they changed the saw to Farming so that was like a slogan and they wanted to be a silk Specialist and they sent people to Gunma and Chinese China And they tried to get their own way and they made a wider width which means they can export to Europe and America and they are kind of They could they do their business I Think there are so many things we could do I think and Museums shop there is the Muji corner and they just started reclaimed wool So that also really really special in Japan because we Japanese has no wool Nothing no sheep at all. No Sheep They can't survive with this humid climate unfortunately Yeah rule so who is a very very precious and Of course Momoyama era which like shogun started to wear red Russia West as a symbol of money or symbol of power So it's really really important for Japanese. So that That's background. We have a fantastic recyclable system all the Consumer kept all the old clothes made out of wool and the government visited each individual home and Payed money to get the old material because it's a very very precious and they had a fantastic system and they used to have a huge amount of Industry but lately it's getting shrink and shrink because New Zealand wool and Australian wool are very very easy and cheap and Recycling wool are so expensive but But it's amazingly your People who visited Museum they really really loved that idea and they really really and there is a huge machine Reading machine But if we stop doing recycle Recycling wool then the machine will be gone. So and Muji agreed to support them It's not the easy things because it's easy just getting a new Yes, because much much cheaper than and People are amazing. They just touch the things and And Immediately felt. Oh, this has the cashmere and the cashmere box and this has some acrylic and it's a rubbish and the hundred percent the old and yellow red blue and Purple it's amazing. It's really really incredible. So I think that's Concrete No Because just one I think I think the three of us. Yeah, we have regenerated material and with the silk Pratt, of course, it's a stretching but it's considered because of course is a very short fiber So it's used is considered kind of low Quality which is in a weight is but but I think that the three of us What we really preserved is the tradition of recycling Because at the end that's the tradition. I always thought, you know, I Mean people were never throwing anything away and they were always doing patchwork's braggs and everything So basically trying to maintain that tradition Not specifically may be a way but in a different way, but to sort of say, okay, we have I mean for me when I First was in that big industry. I saw there was an amount of waste could be like basic element I mean, why do you want to throw that away? You can use it. I liked it that was the motion not thinking about so much recycling at that time, but was there I liked it. Why not using it? So that I think all of us sort of maintain that tradition preserve that method, no, I think it's a great way to Conclude this discussion for now because I'm sorry. We're short on time. So I want to throw it open to the audience for questions, too So Susanna is going to Pass around a mic. So please speak into the mic so everyone can hear first question It's wonderful to see your work all juxtaposed. My name is Lila Weiss and I'm a big big fan of Rekosudo since long ago and became acquainted with your work through her shop and it's just exciting I think there's a kind of layering and back and forth and reuse and mutual Inspiration that seems to come from the community of designers, too. That's so exciting Especially in an industry where there have often been so many secrets and it seems like there's a kind of welcoming of collaboration that's very exciting with unknown pasts and even contemporary colleagues and So thank you for offering that model and I was really struck first of all by Christina Kim's work with the layering and the translucency thinking about poljaki the Korean Applicate patchwork, and then you mentioned the basque fibers and then seeing the three talks together today I noticed that that seems to really be so much a part of all of the works that are upstairs But that you're seeing layers that are like layers of fiber, but also of time and of use and I'm just wondering How directly those influenced your your work all three of you if that I mean they're they're just a Wonderful sort of expression of handwork, but was that something that was an inspiration for you directly? Well being a Korean that's an easy answer Well the pojaki and the you know loving the translucency Brings a very beautiful place where you could use scraps, but as well as fabrics that are Damaged as well as some of the fabrics that are too thin so by layering it allows you to strengthen the fiber and It also allows you to give a different you know because I'm a clothing designer So in order to make clothing it has to have a certain kind of movement So by layering stitching it you can really recreate shapes that are not able to do when the fabric is single layer and You could also in some cases to give shapes That you don't really you may not see it But by layering you could if you know sewing you could dart it by sewing it in slightly different tensions By hand stitching the darts it allows you to do things that you are not even aware of so you know sometimes You know when you put those are those are garment on the floor. It may not sit flat Because of that reason and I think the patchwork really allows you to explore that area The layering Um, hi, I'm Bonnie Mackay and I have a question Christina mentioned who her mentor was with her grandmother and I was wondering with Raco and Luisa did you have mentors in your life either when the beginning of your life or now That you'd like to share with us Yes my mother I Think but because I was so little when I was young like a Child and I can't my mother couldn't find any Fitted clothes for my body. So always she uses Old kimono and make my clothes until I think I was really really little and My mother and father are so worried. Maybe she had some disease or something and I They sent to me like Red cross Hospital like special hospital, but they didn't have any problem But so I think yes my mother and she made my clothes all the time and when When I was born 1953 Christian Dior came to Japan and She got the strong like influence and she tried to make Christian Dior Government for me and my skirt always had a patch coat inside That was so funny. Yes Well, I cannot really think of a person as a mentor If I understand exactly what that means, but as I said my reference has always been the beauty of Textile domestic unknown Tradition I think that that just I I Don't know. It's just beauty. I that kind of beauty and and I love textiles I'm not quite sure why I've always liked it. I think it's a very basic thing After food, it's all you need It's all you need and it's also structure. I don't know so I think was basically the Beautiful simple Textiles Hi, I'm Tanvi and Thank you so much for the beautiful talk and I'm very really happy to be here I'm a textile designer from India and I'm currently studying design for social innovation and So my question is when you talk about preservation of tradition Like the Jandani or hand applique or embroidery What I've noticed is the next generation of these artisans is not very keen to continue and So, how do you deal with I mean, how do you have you encountered that in your work and how do you Look at tradition and preserving tradition from the point of view of The artisans whether it's as beautiful for them as it is for us users and how do you I mean, what do you do about preserving traditions from the point of view of the people making it That seems like that's direct to that me Okay, well, you know, I think besides my grandmother I think traveling and different cultures has been one of the keys of my design career and You know for me as a designer First I try to understand where I am at And what the skills are so The first thing I try to do is I try to learn the technique and the skills And through that process you are working and having a dialogue with the artisans And they start to teach you And so it's not even about going forward and coming up with new ideas It is to create this human relationship where you open up To have a dialogue And I think that's one thing that I found working in Just the same fabric for example, like John Donnie is a very good example Where I've been working with that fabric for over 15 years To understand that actual Of it which I'm sorry And that they have the same pattern Perhaps the color And then also taking this Applicate Your is for them to see different things so they could open up their vision To create what they want to do So what you know What I see in India Is that they're developing their own vocabulary of design and color senses and patterns based on What they are experiencing now But I also noticed that they have such a strong sense of quality So the quality doesn't diminish But the designs are changing and I think it's a very good thing I hope I answered your question Can allow a short question My name is Jonathan Evans and I'm curious about the relationship To environmental issues that all of your Work seems to dovetail with but in in fact in different ways so the reuse is a big thing, but what And maybe Louisa this one because you've dealt with more industrial processes Is there any bigger solution about reusing on a larger scale? It seems that there's kind of enough clothes in the world, but the fact is Will we stop making them because we can actually reuse On a larger scale fabrics that have already been created for a larger larger public I'm sorry, John. I'm not quite sure that I understood your question I mean one thing about I feel now about The fact an environmental issue if you want is basically consume less So at this point, you know because also having had a production for some time You know you start to generate more and more so I think it's very important to start thinking in that way But In the I think I'm but I'm not sure if I understood completely your question Part of it is the idea of and this was actually one of my questions I didn't ask but I'm glad you did about scaling up about about scaling up meaning meaning can you Can you see recycling doing what each of you do on a larger in a larger way? Sure I do for sure sure, but to me. Absolutely. There are different ways and I mean I showed a couple which are one is kind of traditional the recycling of the fiber, you know the regenerating fibers And and of course, you know for me was this faster way to and Sort of more technological way to put together This discontinuous material, but I'm sure there are many other ways to to do it and on a larger scale, but I think that I I I keep thinking that maybe having a very Good, I mean Sustainability has to do with consuming less I also think that it happens a lot as a designer. It's very much about design thinking So for me, I'm an owner of a manufacturing company where I really am involved in production So I think about every decision we make for example in the cutting room the way we cut You know looking at not the what you cut, but what you throw out Therefore creating work with the leftovers allows Not just the environmental issues, but you are also, you know utilizing human resources in a different way So I definitely agree with Louisa. We need to consume less But I also think we could do a lot as a designer. How do we design and how do we produce? And that's what I'm really interested in, you know pursuing it further and And just to give you an example the upstairs, you know, we made these velvet pillows I don't know whether you've seen them and I followed the system of watching and being involved in the cutting room and making So the way we organize the fabric we probably made about 25 30 pillows But we use the bojagi as a part of a design element We produce I think about 25 percent more without tapping into natural resources But able to create more end product as well as more work Yeah, that's true the design process is very important to have also less waste or at least use the waste or Reconsider, you know the use of to close a production cycle is also part of, you know Being considered about leftovers Thank you Christina Louisa Raco for a wonderful evening. Thank you