Last chance to see: Making NUNO exhibition at Japan House London The European and UK debut of Japan House London’s current exhibition, Making NUNO Japanese Textile Innovation from Sudō Reiko runs until Sunday 11 July 2021. This is your last chance to see, in person, the eight art installations – including two never-before-seen exhibits – in Japan House London’s gallery. You have more time however, to visit (and revisit) the exhibition virtually. Read on to find out more. Textile designer Sudō Reiko is renowned for pushing the boundaries of textile production. As Design Director of leading Japanese textile design firm Nuno and member of the revered Japan Design Committee, she is one of the most exciting textile artists working in Japan today. Weaving Japanese craft traditions into new engineering techniques, Sudō champions regional textile materials, processes and makers from across Japan – from silk farmers in Yamagata Prefecture to weaving techniques in Tango, Kyoto Prefecture. Another major thread running through her work is the theme of sustainability, with Sudō finding innovative ways to make use of materials usually wasted in industrial manufacture and sustaining the regional craft traditions that influence her work. The eight installations on display at Japan House London include ‘Amate’: a leather-like fabric created from pressing washi (Japanese paper made from mulberry) with amate (‘bark cloth’ made by the indigenous Otomi craftspeople in central Mexico). On display in the window bay of Japan House London, ‘Kibiso Crisscross’ is made from the outer shell of silkworm cocoons, usually discarded in the silk-weaving process. Meanwhile, ‘Colour Plate’, a vast wall of colourful thread spools, feeds thousands of threads into Sudō’s reinterpretation of a Jacquard loom. These exhibits are more than just textiles. Bringing them to life is Saitō Seiichi, Panoramatiks Director (ex-Rhizomatiks Architecture), who combines the soundscapes from regional fabric and textile factories in Japan with projections that illuminate the processes behind each exhibit’s creation, taking guests into Sudō’s world. Bringing all artworks together for London is the vision of renowned curator Takahashi Mizuki, Executive Director and Chief Curator of Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile (CHAT) in Hong Kong. If you have missed the chance to see this exhibition in person, or you are unable to make it to Kensington High Street, then why not pay a virtual visit? The exhibition is available online and offers visitors the chance to view these textile textures up close. Explore the virtual exhibition of Making NUNO – Japanese Textile Innovation from Sudō Reiko on the Japan House London website: www.japanhouselondon.uk/discover/ exhibition/making-nuno-virtual-exhibition
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KENSINGTON & CHELSEA REVIEW
