davey r report 2015 final.pdf

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GENERATIONS OF CRAFT : A study into the preservation of Ancient Crafts and the passing down of skills in our

modern day world.By Ruth Emily Davey

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“ The search for Beauty is constant, which is why the textiles made at the hands of these talented women are

genuine works of Art ”

- Museo De Textiles Mundo Maya, San Cristobal De La Casas, Mexico

5Handwoven Huipil from San Andrés Larráinzar, Museo de Trajes Regionales, San Cristobal de la Casas, Mexico

About my Project : 7Introduction / About me : 9Approach / Method : 11Generations of Craft : 13 Teotitlán del Valle Santo Tomás Jalieza Zinacantán Urushi institute of research and restoration, Tokyo Kurume Kasuri Nishimura Orimono Weaving

Modern businesses linked to Indigenous Craftspeople : 35 Yuzen, Kyoto Inden, Yamanashi Maya Kotan, San Cristobal de la CasasWomen weaving a New World - Female Empowerment through Craft : 49 Edo Folding Fan, Tokyo Skinal Nichimetik, land of the flowers

Mass Industry versus the Handcrafted Product : 59 Ndavaa Khadi Oaxaca Kawashima ltd, Kyoto

Collective Identity : 71 Museo de Mundo Maya, San Cristobal de la casas Museo De Textil Oaxaca Gen-emon Kiln, Arita Yosegi Zaiku, Hakone Washi, Tokyo Gaapi, Santo Tomás Jalieza Museum of Traditional Crafts, Kyoto Kyoto Prefectural Government, Textiles and Craft division City of Kyoto Crafts division, Kyoto Organization for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industry, Tokyo Summary : 103 Major findings : 105Dissemination Plan : 107Acknowledgments : 111

Contents:

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About My Project

Here, in the UK, there has been a gradual and widespread loss of family firms; the Master to Apprentice pattern has been broken down by the great rise of manufac-turing.

There are local and regional styles of workmanship that have been lost forever but at the same time I believe there is a resurgence in people wanting to pick up the threads of the past and learn a traditional craft or skill once again. With very few Apprenticeships or placements available, I feel there is a sense of empty handedness all around the UK, a lack of purpose, where one would nor-mally be equipped with a practical skill or craft. I believe learning and developing a skill gives you a sense of purpose.

One of the key issues I feel we have in the UK is that we are no longer taught about hands-on creative skills from a young age, the conventional school cur-riculum does not include Craft as a subject. As technology develops in leaps and bounds, the human hands are gradually being exchanged for the ‘great machine’.

Being a Craftswoman myself I am extremely passionate about protecting ancient craftsmanship and my principal aim is to help others understand the great need for passing on these skills to the next generation and not have them lost as the world continues to create a demand for factory made goods created with no skill or labour. I believe there needs to be a rebalance to create a revival in the Master to Apprentice way of teaching.

Craft is about making things. It’s about uniting the creativity of the mind and the hands of the maker to create something by hand, whether it’s weaving cloth, building a dry stone wall, making a shoe or turning a bowl.Traditional crafts are an important part of our living heritage.

Since becoming a craftswoman myself, I have noticed a big shift in people’s values of the Handcrafted object. Naturally, people have become fed up with the millions

of imported products and the lack of care, longevity and skill in the items they buy. People are naturally drawn to objects that are handmade. There has been growing awareness that in time, hand skills will totally disappear if we don’t give recognition or value to them.

Your hands can absorb knowledge. It’s a peaceful way of life and it gives you a sense of fulfilment and connection to the material you are working with and to the person you are making for. Understanding what it actually takes to create something by hand makes us value items much more.

I want to discover how other cultures value craftsmanship which exists in coun-tries that rely heavily on hand skills as a valuable contribution to the economy.All these issues are what led me to apply for my Fellowship to help bring some of these challenges to light and discover how skills are transmitted through the generations.

I decided to visit Mexico and Japan for my Fellowship study because I believe these to be two countries that have a rich, diverse history in craftsmanship and continue to celebrate and practice ancient craft skills today.

In Mexico, there are remote villages where weaving continues to be their way of life, in many ways it is as intuitive as breathing. In some of the indigenous com-munities, the tradition remains where a child is born and they will be given a spindle which will be their companion for their entire life and then buried with them at their passing.

Japan has such an interesting legacy of craftsmanship and is home to some of the finest masters of craft in the world. It is a country where somehow both the ancient and the contemporary exist together. I wanted to discover what recog-nition and support there is for Masters of Craft and what opportunities there are for Apprentices which are laying the foundation for many of the businesses that continue to be successful today.

9Photo taken by Nick Hand, Craft Photographer for the Balvenie Master of Crafts Awards 2011

Introduction - About me

I have been making shoes for 12 years.

Rather unconventionally, I was educated at home for my secondary school years. Instead of sitting in a classroom I was often taught outside, along with my brothers, sister and cousin in the rural Welsh countryside. We had a structured timetable which included all the standard subjects such as English, Mathematics, Science, Biology and Languages but in addition to them we were taught Botany, pottery, plumbing, life drawing and Woodwork amongst many others. This un-usual experience has encouraged me to explore and practice what I love doing most – Art and Crafts and it was through going to Art College that I was then offered an apprenticeship with a friend of the family, Shoemaker Alan James Raddon when I was 18.

In the absence of any direct beneficiaries, Alan was in his 60s and wanted to pass on his years of carefully developed skills to someone who would carry his life’s work forward.

At the time I didn’t realize how truly fortunate I was to work side by side, nur-tured by a Master Craftsman who patiently watched as I proceeded to make ev-ery mistake in the book. Cutting out two left feet, inaccurate stitching and sand-ing the wrong shoe were all key to absorbing the knowledge with my hands and slowly, over time I began to realize that no part of shoemaking can be rushed or fast forwarded and to really and truly master a skill it takes an immense amount of time and dedication.

Now, 12 years down the line my hands know the work so well that they simply work away without thinking.

Upon completion of my 5 year apprenticeship I set out to be independent of my mentor and have slowly been building my business step by step. In 2011 I won the Balvenie young Master of craft award. I was also given a Year in a Creative Unit award at Aberystwyth Art Centre and I am a QEST scholar. In May 2016 I opened my first shop in my local town Machynlleth, the ancient capital of Wales.

I am proud to be a part of the UK network of makers, who are responsible for the revival of the cottage industry.

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Approach / Method:

I knew before I set off for Mexico in January 2016, followed by the later trip to Japan in March that my Fellowship would involve a number of themes. However, travel is not just about having impressions confirmed: it is also about gaining im-pressions not previously obvious. One of the extremely important opportunities that my Winston Churchill Fellowship research has given me is the realization that I have come back with more themes than I left with.

In keeping with many of the craft traditions I had access to in both countries; the themes themselves interweave and are not separate, mutually exclusive topics. They have their own ‘weft’ and ‘warp’ that leaves a rich tapestry of ideas, motiva-tions and relationships that cannot easily be disentangled.

Before my adventures, I was driven by the desire to search for and strive towards a situation in the UK where there is more support for the Master to Apprentice exchange of skills and traditions. In this respect my first theme became how crafts are passed on from one generation to the next, or what I have called Generations of Craft.

I sensed that more support would produce an increase for UK manufacture. My own experiences as a Shoemaker already leave me fully aware of another theme: the delicate balance between Mass industry and the handcrafted product.

This also led on to a theme within a theme, how Modern business can be linked to the small-scale craftsperson whether through the agency of collectives, crafts-people working together or perhaps motivated by an inspiring individual.

Greater emphasis on the value of handcrafts would act as an ambition for future generations who might, as a way of life, become familiar with schooling that includes doing things with their hands, so another theme was the Role of govern-ment and official policy.

My awareness of such matters was both confirmed and increased through my travels, but I also came back with a bigger list than I left with. One item is the importance, perhaps through the actions of collectives, of what I have termed Women weaving a new world – female empowerment through the protection and promotion of craft.

Finally, interweaving as I say with one or more of the above is what I have termed Collective Identity. Some of the sites and people I visited had relationships which were most obviously forged on the scale of family, village, like-minded souls or community. I became aware on my travels of the role of regionality and national identity, and it is to this level of ‘oneness’ that this last theme refers.

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1. Generations of Craft

13Photograph taken in San Andrés Larráinzar

15Matea Contreras Sosa with her daughter Petra, Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca

Generations of Craft :

Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca

Teotitlán del Valle is a small village in Oaxaca, first peopled by the Zapotecs. The vil-lage has a long standing history for weaving, making Tapete rugs which are woven on hand-operated peddle looms. The textiles are made from wool obtained from local sheep and dyed with local bark, flowers and natural pigments like cochineal and indigo1. I wanted to visit this village in particular as the families have handed down traditions to their children, with the art of weaving in many families going back six or seven genera-tions.

I talked to several family-run businesses. Quite often the story was identical – they rely heavily on tourism for income, so although they retain their Zapotec culture and her-itage, the motifs woven into their work has had to evolve with the variation of taste in colour and decoration. Over the years, the work of the weavers has evolved to include reproductions of famous artists’ work. An example was shown to me woven by a wom-an called Matea De Contreras which was inspired by M.C Escher’s ‘Sky and Water’. She explained that this particular pattern was very popular for a few years back, particularly amongst American tourists who visited the village.

Although I found it somewhat disturbing that we, as foreigners, can influence the work-manship of Zapotec weavers with designs of our own, the reliance on the tourist trade cannot be disregarded. In many parts of Mexico the Mayan communities have no other income, no money for education or healthcare. By supporting the work of the weavers it means they will have a way to support their families and take care of their children.

Although Matea prefers to weave patterns true to her heritage; she has to prioritize the income generated to feed her family and they have to make what sells. She made a point of saying how each new piece/commission can be something to learn from – their skills can adapt to all sorts of diversities of pattern and colours. All new pieces will influence their individual style as a weaver. Every piece woven is unique; she will never forget a piece of her own work even amongst the hundreds of pieces displayed in the shop, which is a collaboration between both her and her husband’s family2.

Matea began weaving when she was 16. Her great-great grandparents were weavers as were many generations before. She explained that these skills are all they know in her family and she will continue to pass them down to the next generation. Matea and her husband have 2 children; a son aged 9 who has begun mixing the skeins of wool and her daughter, age 5 who will begin weaving in a few years’ time.

1 Weaving in Teotitlán dates back to 500 BC. The earliest weavings were done on back strap looms using cotton and ixtle. Today, the weaving is done on peddle looms and the fabric of choice is wool. This change took place following the arrival of Dominican Bishop Juan López de Zárate in 1535. He introduced wool and the first loom, shipped from Spain across the Atlantic. The use of natural dyes and weaving predate the conquest, but it was the European invasion which jump-started a cottage industry producing serapes and tapetes or rugs. Slowly the town grew, and began specializing in rugs which were initially sold within the state and to a certain extent, in different parts of the country. Now, exports from this town reach foreign shores too.2 For the full interview see my blog on www.generationsofcraft.wordpress.com

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Santo Tomás JaliezaSantoTomas Jalieza is a town in the Ocotlán District. It is known as the ‘town of belts’, re-nowned for weaving belts using the backstrap loom.

The backstrap loom is one of the earliest known methods of weaving and predates the ped-dle loom which was introduced following the Spanish conquest. The Maya have used the backstrap loom for at least 1000 years. For the Mayan style of life, the loom has many ad-vantages: it is easily portable and can be used at the same time the busy Zinacantec women attend to other duties. If they are tending the family’s small herd of sheep, a woman can tie one end of the loom to a tree and continue her weaving or keep an eye on her children3.

I visited the town wanting to find out more about the way of life here in the village and in particular how the skills are passed down, through the generations. I talked to a group of women who sat weaving away in the quiet town square. Although shy at first, they began to open up about their way of life. The weaving skills are passed down by families teaching their children as young as 5 years old. “The weaving is passed from generation to generation. So many generations, we cant even remember, we cant even say because we don’t know. My mother showed me and she was taught by her mother and so on and so on. Iv now taught my own children and they theirs. And so the tradition is passed on” Isabel Antonia, Age 74, Santo Tomas Jalieza.

3 Weaving Generations Together: Evolving Creativity in the Maya of Chiapas by Patricia Marks Greenfield

Isabel Antonia, Santo Tomás Jalieza 17

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ZinacantánZinacantán is a municipio in the southern part of the Central Chiapas highlands in the Mexican state of Chiapas. My visit there was one of the most memorable experiences of my entire Fellowship. It just so happened that on the day I arrived the town was in cele-bration of the feast of San Sebastian. The streets were full with the procession in their festival costumes and will have to remain in memory as taking photos was strictly prohibited. Amongst the busy parade I managed to interview one of the families in their home which was a great insight into the life of the Zinacantec people.

The tradition of weaving on the backstrap loom has continued for centuries because a Zincantec girl’s body and mind are prepared for weaving from birth. When a baby girl is born in Zinacantán, family members immediately place cooking and grinding utensils, weaving tools and flowers into her newborn grasp to reinforce her future feminine role4.

I interviewed 41 years-old Rosa, a mother of four girls and one boy. A normal day for her consists largely of: weaving during the day and embroidery at night, from around 7 in the morning until sometimes 10 p.m. It’s a lot, as she said, on top of the household work. Rosa makes the tortillas in the morning and sometimes food in the afternoon, but most of the household work is done by her daughters. She is not married.

Rosa was 8 years old when she began to learn embroidery. She began weaving with the backstrap loom at 12. All of her daughters have followed suit, although the youngest knows just embroidery.She thinks it important to show her children how to weave and do embroidery because they will need to make their own clothes. Making tortilla is also important.

Rosa wears traditional clothing decorated with emblems of the flowers that grow here in Zinacantán 5.

Both Rosa and her son Flaviel have views about people who come from abroad to buy and then wear their traditional clothing:

“We like that they come and buy, and that they wear it because it attracts more people to come and buy from us, because it’s artisanal work from here. Right now there’s a lot of work from artisans being produced and it’s becoming fashionable; it goes into galleries and those kinds of places.

4 Weaving Generations Together: Evolving Creativity in the Maya of Chiapas by Patricia Marks Greenfield5 In pre-Columbian times before the Conquerors’ arrival, Zinacantán already had strong links with the Aztecs in the Central Zone of Mexico. Zinacantecans exchanged their products (especially salt, but by the 19th century also cacao, tobacco, and coffee) with Aztec trad-ers.The first missionaries who came to evangelize the native inhabitants in Zinacantán were the Dominican Friars. They settled in Zinacantan in the 16th century and built a wooden chapel to begin their mission. These missionaries left Zinacantán before they were expelled from Mexico by the government in the 17th century. They resumed their pastoral work in Zinacantan in 1976.An important development in Zinacantán was the construction of the Pan American Highway, which significantly improved the mobility and prosperity of the Zinacanteco population, as it enabled them to easily transport goods to market such as maize and flowers.Photograph taken in San Cristóbal de las Casas

by Linda Davey

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Zinacantán is going to become more or less recognized; now there is work from here all over the country. Some people are incorporating parts of the work into more contempo-rary designs, because they like the colours. And for us well it feels good, that they buy from us, that they wear the clothes, because it looks beautiful. And it means that they like our clothes and they don’t criticize us in our traditional clothing. There are some people who do criticize us.But most people do like the artesania from here because it’s a form of art, and it’s made by hand, and on the looms. Not many people do that anymore.We feel good that people buy from us, that they dress in them. And then more people get to know the work, it brings more tourism, and they value the work”.

For Rosa it’s fine that visitors to the village are buying and therefore valuing her work. It’s very important to her that she can maintain herself so she can buy things and sup-port her family. She remembers how it was to earn money before the artesania:

“The men would work the land, they would sew the corn. Some women as well, but most of them were housewives, they worked on the loom. With the men working, they’d main-tain the women. And the women would go into the mountains to fetch the firewood, and that’s it. But now, the women work with their artesania, and that’s how they maintain themselves today”

The flowers we only just started to do, since they started growing the flowers in the vil-lage, before there weren’t any flowers, just corn. The flowers arrived and so the clothes began to change as well: they are new, modern; maybe, 30 years, more or less”

The loom and the weaving inspires Rosa to create new styles, different jobs, so as to sell more. New demands from outside the area lead to new techniques which are both a challenge yet also fulfilling; however, she is more at home with pieces that she knows how to do, from memory; be it what colours to use, or sizes etc. A different design is more difficult and can take as much as three months to finish.

Rosa Reinada Peréz Gonzales and her daugher Andalucia, Zinacantán


Zinacantán 2.

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Urushi Institute of Restoration and Research , Tokyo

Urushi or Japanese lacquer has been used in Japan since around 7000 years BC. It is a method of using the sap from the lacquer tree to coat objects made from wood in lacquer and deco-rating them in fine gold. Throughout my Fellowship, I have seen many bowls and spoons on our journey all over Japan, as Urushi is famously used for enhancing the quality and deco-rative finish of all sorts of utilitarian objects. Urushi has been used to make many historical artefacts and the creation of lacquer ware has long been practiced only by skilled, dedicated artisans.

The craft of Urushi was actually known as ‘Japan’ although nowadays people translate it as ‘lacquer’. Researchers and urushi craftsmen are trying to make urushi to be known simply as urushi instead of Japanese lacquer.

Urushi is produced in a three-step process: first the base is prepared. Most often the base con-sists of wood, which has to be shaped and is a whole craft in itself, but it can also be of paper or leather. Next is the application of lacquer, which hardens as time passes, thereby sealing the base. Generally several layers of lacquer are applied. The lacquer is then decorated with a vari-ety of methods. The maki-e technique, a powdered metal (usually gold or silver) is sprinkled on the lacquer before completely hardened. This technique was developed and popular in the Heian period but is continued unchanged today.

I met with Tasuku Murose, a son of Kazumi Murose, a well-known Living National Treasure of Japan. A Living National Treasure is a popular term for those Japanese individuals certified as Preservers of Important Intangible Cultural Properties by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology6. Tasuku is from the next generation down to a master crafts-man, someone who now, in his early 30s, has decided he wants to continue the skills of his family’s history. This is rather different to the passing on the family skills to 5-year olds, as discovered in Mexico, but the connection to the next generation within a family is identical.Before deciding to join his father’s company, Tasuku went to university. Over this time, he re-alised he was the only person amongst his fellows who knew about the history and processes of Urushi. So he decided to take a different path and learn more about this ancient craft. After a masters and doctorate, he works alongside his brother and father.

His father concentrates on the making and renovation. Tasuku and his brother help with the business. At the same time, they are busy running workshops to allow others learn about the ancient craft of urushi and bring awareness to this specialist skill. They also employ several other craftsmen.

6 As based on Japan’s Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties.

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Tasuku talked about his experience growing up, like most young people of his genera-tion, aiming to work in a business in the city, choosing a career in IT rather than learn any kind of traditional craft. Most of his peers probably ending up blending in to the sea of men in black suits I noticed, packed into the train I saw on the way to this workshop. We talked about today’s choices for the younger generation where there seems to be a shift away from the business world and more towards looking to the arts for their career path.

Tasuku then showed us some of the working processes of urushi: from bare wood to the sanded finish as smooth as glass; so smooth it looks like polished black marble, as shiny as a mirror. The bare wood is protected by linen as the wooden base pieces are often very thin. Then a sand based paste is applied before polishing and applying the urushi around 7 or 8 times. This is a popular method in Wajima, one of the largest production areas of urushi in Japan.

Photos : Top Right, Tasuku Murose, Various processes of Urushi, beginning with the wooden base and finishing with the maki-e technique, a powdered metal (usually gold or silver) is sprinkled on the lacquer before completely hardened, some of the tiny gold specks are applied individually by hand.


Urushi Institute of Restoration and Research , Tokyo

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Kurume Kasuri Kurume Kasuri is one business I visited in Japan that I can relate to in terms of being a cottage industry. Kasuri-textile is a technique to twine and dye vertical threads and horizontal ones together so as to weave up a design. The technique is originally from India, and is also found all over Persia and South Europe, from China and Southeast Asia to Ryukyu. Kurume-kasuri was born from daily life – people worked their looms and wove clothes for their family. Now the real handcrafted fabric is so labour intensive it is mainly used for specialist kimono mak-ers.

I met Tetsuya Matsueda, the grandson of Tamaki Matsueda, another Living National Treasure of Japan who reached the age of 86, a true pioneer of Kurume Kasuri.I love the indigo blue patterned Kasuri design which we had seen dotted about on our travels every so often and this interview was one of the ones I had been looking forward to most.

The intensity of the indigo blue is so incredibly beautiful. I loved watching the whole process of indigo dyeing come to life. There are several labour intensive processes that go into Ku-rume Kasuri dyeing and that is before the weaving process even begins.

Indigo dye comes from the leaves of a plant which has to be ground and squeezed into a juice, which is actually a pale blue colour. It then has to be dried and fermented for 100 days. This is called ‘sukumo’. It arrives into the workshop in sacks made from straw.

The fermented indigo is mixed with water into the indigo pots called ‘Aigame’. They are built in the floor, which helps to regulate the temperature. The water and indigo is mixed to a 5 to 1 ratio. As it is unable to mix with water once it is dried after the fermentation process, it has to be combined with burnt wood ash.

Mr Matsueda mixes the ashes with hot water and filters it before adding it to the Aigame. 20 kg of ash is required each time, and since there is a limited supply of wood ash available, he uses the ashes from the kiln of ceramics workshops in Fukuoka. He will then return the fil-tered ash to the ceramics workshop who will use it for the glaze. I love that the crafts can be connected in this way and support each other in their different processes. The other ingredi-ents added will be starch Syrup, pure rice sake and ground up shell.

Because the indigo is fermented, and in that sense alive, it is all down to the art of the fermen-tation that will determine the depth of the colour. It will need to be stirred once a day and tasted on the tongue to see if it is ready. It takes a true master to decide if the fermentation is complete or not.

The blue is achieved by oxidation. The skein of thread will need to be dyed 30 times to achieve the deepest blue. After dyeing it will be smacked on the floor 30 times to allow the air to get to it. Between each 5 dyes the cotton skein will be thoroughly washed. This is how the deep beauty of the indigo blue is produced. Indigo is also able to dye brown, yellow, green and “In-digo red”. Sayoko Matsueda, Kurume Kasuri 27

31Tetsuya Matsueda, Kurume Kasuri


Kurume Kasuri 2. Kurume Kasuri work with cotton which means the indigo requires a long fermentation pro-cess to allow the material to take the dye. Mr Matsueda explained that silk can be dyed from the fresh leaves of the indigo because it is already an animal protein; whereas cotton is a natu-ral, plant based fabric.

Before any of the dyeing process takes place they will need to create the desired pattern, so will hand paint a special paint on the cotton while it is stretched on a frame. Then they tie pieces of linen or, if they want a pure white relief pattern, with plastic. If you imagine the amount of time and accurate planning it takes to create a pattern when you are dyeing and weaving both directions of the thread, so you can match it all together, it is truly incredible to think how much intense work goes into the process of Kasuri altogether.

Tetsuya Matsueda’s grandfather, Tamaki Matsueda, spent his life creating new patterns and colours in Kasuri dyeing all of which he passed down to his grandson. His presence is every-where in the house. We sat and watched a short film about him. It was wonderful to see him working the very same methods we had just witnessed moments ago.

As for the future they talked about their son who is now in his 20s and admitted how thankful they are that he has expressed interest from an early age to keep the Matsueda traditions alive. We were shown pictures of him dyeing the cotton at 7 years old and weaving age 11. And so the tradition continues. They also talked about the workshops they regularly do in schools and the 5 apprentices they are about to train.

Sayoko then brought out a long box and began lifting out kimono after kimono which, it turned out, had been made by Tetsuya’s grandfather. These are so rare and so beautiful that one of their long standing clients, being so passionate about the art of Kurume Kasuri, collect-ed and donated them back to Tetsuya so as to preserve their wonderful history. There are over 20 of them carefully wrapped up in Japanese paper, all hand stitched. When I asked how they preserve the fabric so well she explained that the indigo dye has a special component in so it naturally preserves the cloth, which is why even the oldest pieces look as if they have been woven yesterday.

It will take 3 months to make the fabric for a whole kimono. When we asked about the mar-ket for their work they explained that, despite the fact that Kasuri used to be for normal workman’s clothing, nowadays it is much more exclusive and each piece they make contains so much work it has to be priced accordingly. They have a very niche market: a kimono made from Kurume Kasuri is worth around ¥700,000-1,000,000 which works out around £4,500 – £6,000.

They continue to tailor and perfect each and every step of the process, as if each step is the only job they have, which means the cloth will become infinitely more beautiful and that is their never-ending goal.

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Nishimura Orimono WeavingThe slogan of Nishimura is which translates as ‘Making our products to pass down to the next generation’.

Nishimura Orimono Weaving was especially interesting to me, in comparison to Mexi-co where the cloth is all hand-woven using either a singular peddle or back-strap loom. You can hear the rhythmic clicking sounds of the machines working away before even entering the building, which is a hub of activity.

The company was formed in 1861 and Mr Nishimura is the 6th generation president of Nishimura weaving which employs around 40 people, 80% of whom are female. They also have a second branch in Tokyo. We began with some history behind the designs and traditional motifs and then our tour began with the design room where we were shown the computer programmes now used to create the designs to be sent and made into patterns. This was particularly fascinating to me as combining the hand techniques with modern technology design processes is light years away from the examples I have visited so far.

The Hakata-ori weaving technique is characterized by fine, supple, thick material—qualities attained by using a number of thin warps and thick wefts made by twisting multiple thin yarns together. These two layers of yarn are woven using a reed that cre-ates a horizontal bump in the fabric, and the pattern is woven by bringing the warps to the surface. Touching the fabric for the first time I was surprised how silk can be so very thick until Mr Nishimura explained that it was 1,500 threads woven tightly together. The Hakata-ori production process passed down to the present day can largely be di-vided into five steps, with each step so complex that different craftspeople specialize in each one7 .

The solidity of this textile proved ideal for producing traditional Japanese sashes for the kimono. It was appreciated for its durability, as well as for its tendency to remain tight once fixed while still being easy to undo. It was highly sought by men who needed to hold the scabbards of their katana in place as they moved.The reason I chose to visit Japan, as the second part of my Fellowship, is because there are the ancient Masters of Crafts and unique traditions, combined with such efficient business sense and commitment ingrained in the Japanese spirit. Also there are the re-sources and market opportunities all in one place. It is clear to see as soon as we walk in that every machine in Nishimura is working away, well-greased, maintained and per-fectly in time.

7 The origins of Hakata-ori can be traced back to 1235, when a young Hakata merchant named Mitsuta Yazaemon travelled to China with the monk Shoichi Kokushi. For six years, Kokushi studied Buddhism while Yazaemon learned a number of techniques, including manju (Chinese sweet bun) making, ceramics and textiles.When the pair returned to Japan in 1241, Yazaemon passed on his skills to the people of Hakata, incorporating his own designs as he began a family business. 250 years later, his descendants visited China once more to study textile production in greater depth. They further modified the technique they had inherited, and Hakata-ori was born—a name combining its region of origin with the word Ori, or weaving. http://japan-brand.jnto.go.jp/eng/crafts/textiles/3170/

Another room was a lot quieter. A man, called Mr Inoue, sat weaving: he turned out to be one of the longest standing employees of the company having worked in Nishimura for 60 years. The hand weave is exceptional, he showed us the gold thread he uses which is flat, so his expertly trained eye has to spot any slight twist in the thread. His work is so very intricate; clearly, the Certificate of Excellence he has received as a Master Craftsman is well deserved.

One of the interesting facts I learned is that the mouth of the silk worm is triangular so if you magnify the thread you will see it is triangle shaped hence why silk is so shiny.

We finished the tour in the showroom where a range of products demonstrates the variety of uses for Hakata Ori, most popular of all is the belt for the kimono.

Mr Inoue, Nishimura

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35Hakata Ori, Kimono Belt, Nishimura, Photograph taken by Mariko Kato

2. Modern Business Linked to Indigenous Craftspeople

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Founded in 1555, CHISO is one of the oldest YUZEN dyeing companies in Kyoto. They have been honoured with many awards over the years. They have developed the tech-nique of velvet Yuzen and in 1994 began to reproduce kimonos from the 18th century to create a beautiful fusion of traditional and innovative designs into their work. They are striving to promote the wearing of kimonos today as Western clothing continues to influence the streets of Japan and cultural traditions are cast aside.

Nowadays they are working in collaboration with other companies using the Yuzen technique. For example, last year they launched a travelling suitcase with Globe Trotter, Chiso provided the hand painted, silk lining for a limited edition range of bags.One of them encompasses a pattern which is a fusion of the Japanese chrysanthemum (the symbol of Japan) with the classic English rose; a fantastic example of a union of quintessential craftsmanship.

I met with the Chiso Production Department Director, Mizumura Hironobu, and Gallery Curator, Ishida Naoko. They took us to meet one of Chiso’s business partners Mr Takahashi of Takahashi-Toku, a traditional Yuzen dyeing house, who showed us the extraordinary process from beginning to end.

I have been hearing a lot about the Japanese method of separating out each process and to designate a craftsman for each stage, Yuzen is the perfect example of this. As we watched each of the master craftsmen at work, painting on to the silk with no hesita-tion and perfect accuracy we realised we were holding our breath in pure concentration for them. One of the reasons Kyo Yuzen is so intensely beautiful is that, in the hand of the artist he or she can create anything from the end of the brush using a kaleidoscope of colour (bearing in mind it takes several years to be able to mix the dyes, master the technique and achieve the desired colour). Each kimono is completely unique.

A kimono requires around 16 metres of pure silk, each section painted separately. The process takes around 6 months altogether or longer if the design is very intricate or complicated.

As the finale of our tour we were taken to see a special kimono lit up in a room which was made and presented to Mr Takahashi’s daughter on her 20th birthday (Photo Oppo-site). You can see from the long sleeves it is for an unmarried girl (Furisode). This kimo-no is so intricate, with many layers of patterns, hand dyed and painted separately that it took a whole year to make. The lightness of the silk combined with the gold embroidery and red silk lining make it such a unique work of art. The sheer beauty and monumen-tal amount of work involved makes the finished piece truly stunning.

Modern Business Linked to Indigenous Craftspeople :

Yuzen, Kyoto

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1. (Zuan) First the designs are drawn by hand on paper with charcoal in actual size.2. White silk fabric is cut into 10 pieces and sewn together to create the form of the kimono.3. (Shitae) the design is traced on to the white silk with juice extracted from flowers, this blue compound can easily be rinsed away with water.4. (Itome Nori) The outline is traced on the white silk with narrow lines of resist paste, this not only separates one colour area from another but also imparts a decorative quality of its own. (The kimono will then be taken apart and worked on in separate pieces once the design is in place ready to be matched up again later)5. (Aobana Otoshi) white silk pieces are put into water to remove blue lines.6. (Fuse nori) the pattern areas that are not to be dyed are covered with a rice paste.7. (Jiire) after the rice paste has dried the whole piece is brushed with gojiru liquid extracted from soy beans.8. (jizome) the background colour is brushed over the entire silk piece using a thicker and wider brush.

1. 2.

5. 6.

9. (mushi) to set the dyes, the silk pieces are steamed at 100 degrees in a cypress box for around 40 minutes.10. (Mizumoto) all the rice paste is carefully rinsed off in cold water – they specifically use water from very deep underground to be very cold and clean.11. (Jire) the pattern area is brushed with gojiru to prevent bleeding of the dyes.12. (iro-sashi) after allowing to dry, each silk piece is attached to a bamboo frame and the dyer artist brushes the colour onto the design outline.13. the piece is then steamed again.14. (gomu-suisen) the silk piece is then washed in a special kind of oil because the resist paste is made of gum.15. Putting the finishing touch (Yunoshi) metallic leaf (inken) embroidery (shishu) precious metallic leaf or powder is bonded to the dyed silk piece using various techniques.

3. 4.

7. 8.

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Inden is a Japanese craft made of lacquered deerskin, with more than 400 years of history, originating in the Yamanashi prefecture close to Mount Fuji.

The techniques and patterns for making Inden were originally developed to produce certain parts of samurai armour. The production process follows three basic steps that require highly skilled artisans.

The immensely soft deerskin leather becomes very durable when Japanese lacquer is applied on it, making it very suitable for objects exposed to daily usage.

Founded in 1582, INDEN-YA is the oldest company I visited on my entire Fellow-ship. It is clear there is real integrity at the heart of their business approach.

In my meeting with the president, Mr Desawa, he explained about the company’s deeply inspiring philosophy to preserve this ancient leatherwork technique. I love that they make their products to last and are passionate about repairing their work even decades down the line.

As long as their logo is visible on the product, they will repair all their products for free, with a few exceptions.

Mr Desawa specified he wants his products to last for a least 3 generations in a fam-ily. In ancient Japan people would remake or reuse objects, using an old jacket to make a new wallet for example and creating new things out of old ones is part of this company’s vision to not add to the throwaway culture we now live in.The other truly special thing about Inden-Ya is the treatment of the employees: there are 94 altogether, 65 of whom are making things. It is clear they are treated as fam-ily members and they invest a lot in teaching them ancient techniques and many of their workers stay in the company for their whole lives.

They have been particularly interesting to talk to because they practise the entire process of making inden from beginning to end, with the exception of occasionally outsourcing their stitching. This means it is easier to ensure quality control – some-thing that is clear when you pick up one of their products, as the softness of the skin is unlike many leathers I work with back at home. Mr Desawa explained they don’t sell online as they prefer to deal with their customers one-to-one and allow them to see and feel their products.


Inden, Yamanashi

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2. The deer skin will be stretched out and then sand-ed to create a very smooth surface on the hide.

(Fig 4.) The leather is dyed and cut into pieces which are then screen printed with Japanese Lacquer ‘Urushi’ (Fig 6.)

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Fig 1 and 5, This ancient method is called ‘Fusube’ where the leather is hammered on to a barrel and smoked with natural golden straw, which will take a whole day for each piece. Deer skin is very porous, so the natural amber colour will penetrate the skin and the Urushi will be scraped off to reveal the pattern underneath.

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Once the leather is sufficiently smoked the Urushi will be scraped off to reveal the pattern underneath. (Fig. 7)The patterns used by Inden-Ya are all ancient symbols, (Overleaf) One of my favourites is the ‘Tonbo’ (Dragonfly) which means to go only forward and never back..

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The beauty of Mayan weaving and embroidery is known all over the world. It is much celebrated in Mexico itself but people travel far and wide to see some of the famous cloth created at the hands of the Mayan communities. Over the duration of my Fel-lowship I discovered one of the key issues facing the weavers today is the lack of rights or protective laws in place to stop people from reproducing the designs which they have no way of guarding. I was told of several cases where designers come and buy the work and then reproduce it to claim it as their own, which has resulted in many of the communities being closed to sharing the insight into their work with visitors.

The busy high street of San Cristóbal de las Casas is packed with designer boutiques selling the work of the indigenous weavers in the form of clothing, textiles and bags.

Maya Kotan was started originally by Paz Verge in 2011 with the need to create links between the weaving families, and their skills, with a clear and fair business model.

You can see Paz’s relationship with the women reflected in the exceptional quality and attention to detail in all their products. She manages her relationship with the weavers by buying the thread and then paying them per centimeter for their work. The relationship is clear and fair: they do not exist through the exploitation of the weaving relationships. Paz, through her own work as a sociologist, realised there is se-vere corruption between business owners and the weavers and amongst the weaving communities themselves. A big problem was the coordinators of the group would not always distribute the work fairly to the weavers. One of the changes Paz made was to distribute the work from her workshop, which means she can take into consideration if a woman is pregnant so she can give them smaller pieces. She explained the head-aches involved with maintaining all the social work included and overcoming issues, such as thread price increases.

“Right from the beginning the vision was to create something that would involve my own and also other women’s creativity. I was driven by beauty of textiles and the work and craftsmanship it takes to produce them. I had been involved in development projects with women for many years and had the need to do something that I could see would have a good impact and develop the lives of women in this area.I am originally from Chile and the idea is to go back to my county of birth and exchange experiences and link the work of so many women along the continent.”

I was impressed at her whole ethos and core philosophy to provide a stable, constant income for the Mayan women. She works with 9 weavers and also employs 4 people in her workshop, which is just off the Main Street of San Cristobal.


Maya Kotan, San Cristóbal de la Casas, Mexico

47Photographs taken by Paz Vergara

49Photo: Naturally dyed wool, Vida Nueva, Teotitlán

3. Women Weaving a New World – Female Empowerment through Craft

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Women weaving a new world – female empowerment through Craft :

Edo Folding Fan, Tokyo

Ms Fukatsu is a maker of the Edo folding fan, another long standing tradition in Japan. Also meeting us is a friend of hers, Ms Kinoshita who runs a very interesting independent website for new craftsmen and women. She very kindly gave me a new set of books she has just published about Japanese crafts.

It was actually a real breath of fresh air to meet and talk to a female master of craft as everyone I have interviewed in Japan so far had been male. Although in some of our interviews we have seen women doing some of the work, it has mainly been men that we have had our meetings with. Just to illustrate this point, one of the first things Ms Fukatsu talked about was the fact that her father (a master of Edo folding fan) did not want her to learn the craft and pass on his skills and instead be a moth-er and housewife. In defiance she has spent her life dedicated to mastering her craft and making a name for herself. She spent the day showing us her techniques and taught me how to make the paper fan and insert the bamboo pieces.

There are heavily patterned lavish gold designs on many folding fans but I like that Ms Fukatsu is inspired by stories and fiction and as she says, her designs are simple but the space around leaves space for the imagination.

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My daughter Talitiu and I having a lesson on how to make a folding fan

53Photograph courtesy of Skinal Nichimetik

Skinal Nichimetik is a women’s cooperative based in Nuevo Sitalá in Chiapas, Mexico. The name means ‘Land of the Flowers’ in Zapotec. Formed by 20 women in 2005, Maria Del Carmen Cruz Martinez is the president.

Carmen took time to tell me about the pros and cons of running a cooperative and about the importance for her to give autonomy and independence to women who would other-wise have no way of making a living. What is different and kind of exhilarating about Ma-ria is that she went against the grain and decided she didn’t want to get married and have children like most of her school friends and family, she wanted to work and to be indepen-dent to support herself and has become a role model for other women to follow.

Hearing about the difficulties and the criticism Maria and the other indigenous women received, when they decided to run the project solely with women was quite emotional. At the same time, it filled me with great inspiration that women in craft can be a powerful force and drive forward a future where men and women are of equal importance.

“About 4 years ago we began to build our little workshop where we weave, but the community made it hard for us, everyone, would say, ‘How is it possible that women are building, Where have you seen women capable of doing anything, they are out of control?”, ”They are in touch with bad influences”.

They wanted to take down the house, they cut our electricity wires, and they painted the walls calling us whores. A lot of things … That’s why women have never tried to work, it’s just, you have to fit into the same old female role.But well for us, I’d say at the beginning we didn’t think like that either, but we started to open our minds little by little, with the view that it’s not just men who can work, but as women we can work as well. There is also a lot of domestic violence towards women in the community, the men are very chauvinistic, and sometimes (as a woman) you’re not bringing any income to the home, so you don’t have an opinion. Your work is to take care of your children, and if you’re not married then you take care of your brothers and sisters”.

I asked had she noticed changes in the women throughout the processes of fighting for their rights:

“Yes, I think that we are growing together. In the beginning we didn’t even really know what we were doing, or where we wanted to go. I think that along the way our creativity was awo-ken, at the start our main interests were in sales, we just wanted to sell, without really caring too much about if it would be any use or if it would last for the customer. But afterwards we realized how important it was that our products were well made and to be open to trying new things”.


Skinal Nichimetik (Land of the Flowers)

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“The positives of working in a collective are that we support each other and it’s not so much a kind of group support, it’s more like a family. I can count on them emotionally just as much as I can count on them in the work itself, because, like I said, our objective at the beginning was to just sell, sell, sell; but after we realized that it wasn’t just about the money, it was about us, as women we could support each other, between ourselves, listening to each other if any of us had any problems. Once, one of the women told me, before she was in the group, if she had a problem she would go out to the coffee planta-tion and she’d forget about it, but then when she came back home, well the problem was right there waiting for her, with her husband. With the group, she would arrive, she could talk to another woman, she’s receive support, so returning home it had passed a little, someone had listened to her, she was some-what relieved, so it was better. We have each other, because we share, we listen; we listen to each other… And that’s the value that we’ve seen in having each other close, as a group”

- Maria Del Carmen Cruz Martinez

Photograph courtesy of Skinal Nichimetik 55

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Vida Nueva, or ‘New Life’, are a collective of women from the village of Teotitlán who are particularly inspiring with their central philosophical aim ‘To create economic and artistic opportunities for Zapotec women’ who may be widowed/single mothers or vic-tims of domestic violence.

They are able to support many community projects through their work and further some of their own wishes for the village; for example, building compost toilets to pre-vent polluting the river and planting trees.

With the mass tourist trade during the 1960s and 70s, the introduction of chemical dyes and synthetic threads all over Mexico overtook the use of natural dyes. Vida Nueva has been helping to reintroduce the knowledge and teach others about the ancient uses of natural dyes like cochineal, indigo and local plants, bark and flowers.

The women are passionate about continuing their ancient Zapotec history by weaving the ancient symbols into their work, using contemporary colours. One of the women showed us her latest piece, which was an outline of a woman combined with a tree. It is a really strong example, celebrating the power and strength of women in a country where many suffer from much oppression.

Meeting the women from Vida Nueva has been very inspiring to me and I have learned a great deal about the intense strength of women in the Mayan communities I have visited.

The work at Vida Nueva is very beautifully woven. It is clear how greatly they celebrate each other’s work and that the cooperative is based on fair practice and great integrity. Each piece is labelled with the name of the maker with information about each of them as a person. One of their youngest members is 16 years old. I brought one of her pieces: a Tapete of the Tree of Life, with a bird at the top, signifying maternal protection, and the birds on each branch as symbols of family.

Photos : Top Pastora Gutierrez Reyes, one of the 8 women that form Vida Nueva.Bottom Left - The meaning behind the pattern is called Ono de Dias, (eye of God). The centre of each fig-ure includes two triangles that look like a butterfly which represents freedom. Then the diamond around each butterfly signifies the community, the power of the Pueblo and the strength of its people and the border represents the two figures within.Bottom Right - Natural Dyes will include indigo, walnuts, flowers and the cochineal bug which produces a brilliant red.


Vida Nueva

59Photograph taken at NDAVAA, San Dionisio Ocotepec

4. Mass Industry verses the Handcrafted Product

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We are borne into a world where shoes, and many other products are mass produced in minutes, assembled in corners of the world where cheap labour can be manipulat-ed, and no one has heard of them or pretends they don’t exist.

The throw away culture we live in has locked us into this sequence of simply being accustomed to buying a ‘new one’ which has created a devaluation of the products we use in our everyday life. On the one hand we are so primed into thinking we need the cheapest possible article and so our values are overshadowed by the realization that items such as shoes are available for a fraction of the cost of a handmade pair. All these issues contribute to the fact that we are living in a throwaway society which has contaminated our values of the handmade object.

Oaxaca is facing similar issues that we have in the UK, where there are cheap, mass produced plastic versions of traditional shoes available in every market or town I vis-ited and the raw materials are being brought out by the Chinese. In Japan, much like the £1 shop in the UK they have the 100¥en shop where you can buy almost anything at a fraction of the price of which it is made.

NDAVAA is a family run business in Mexico making traditional huaraches but also over recent years they combine modern sandal designs combining leather and color-ful woven cloth. Mexican Huaraches are a type of sandal, dating back to Pre Colum-bian in origin. Traditionally they are made of leather with a woven upper which can vary anywhere between the simple and elaborate. They have long been used in rural farming or countryside and in most rural areas in Mexico you will see them on the feet of the men working on the land.

In a true demonstration of resilience, they do the entire process themselves: from tan-ning the leather all the way to making each pair of shoes, all in their own back yard. They take the raw hide and after soaking in lime put it in a big barrel to be rotated and cleaned. Then they have to stretch it out by nailing it to blocks of wood to cure in the sun. They even breed cochineal bugs in the cactus plant to use as a natural dye.

Clara Garcia Antonio (one of the 8 people who run NDAVAA) explained that there used to be over 200 shoemakers in Oaxaca alone, so the core materials, machinery and hand tools were readily available. Now there are hardly any left and the Chinese are buying all the material supplies in Mexico which makes the prices too high for the local makers here.She talked about the devaluation of traditional crafts and the problems they face with many of the younger generation emigrating to the USA for work. This has resulted in Artesans being poorly paid and the shoe trade loosing traditions. Mexico is made up of many regions and a different type of Huarache sandal would be made in each region.

Mass Industry verses the Handcrafted Product :

NDAVAA Shoes

Clara Garcia Antonio, NDAVAA 61

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We talked about the hardship of selling our respective work in a world where cheap imports supersede handcrafted shoes and about the importance of keeping our traditions alive despite the challenges we face.

“So in this region we used to sell 80% of our production. But people starting migrating north, so we sold less. And now of course the Chinese huaraches are being imported: ours, like this one, we sell for 120 pesos, but a Chinese one will sell for 30–40 pesos. They bring them here to Oaxaca and sell them.And now the synthetic ones have been introduced as well. Before, in Oaxaca there was a lot of leather production, they made trousers etc. But since synthetic leather imitation arrived it brought down the leather industry here. It disappeared. Now there is one or two who still survive, but it’s very difficult, it’s tough. There used to be a lot more demand for leather.”

It was great feeling completely at home in their workshop, breathing in the familiar smell of leather and watching the clockwork process of steps which make up a pair of shoes. One of the men making the huarache uppers worked away with no hesitation, his fingers so familiar with the process, working the leather so expertly it was captivating to watch.


NDAVAA Shoes 2.

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‘ There is no beauty in the finest cloth if it makes hunger

and unhappiness ’ – Mahatma Gandhi

Khadi Oaxaca is based in the beautifully remote village of San Sebastian Rio Ondo. They spin the sustainably grown cloth using a replica of a Gandhi wheel and work with over 200 indigenous women, weaving and spinning in the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi’s ideal of cottage industry. Khadi Oaxaca also harvests and spins coyuchi, a caramel-colored, very soft wild cotton indigenous to Oaxaca which is becoming very rare.

The creator of Khadi Oaxaca, Marcos, was unavailable so I was greeted by Elisio, who told me how it was travelling through India that inspired Marcos to set it up the business.

“In India, Khadi is not just a cloth, it is a whole movement started by Gandhi. The Khadi movement promot-ed an ideology, an idea that Indians could be self-reliant on cotton and be free from the high priced goods and clothes which the British were selling to them. The British would buy cotton from India at cheap prices and export them to Britain where they were woven to make clothes. These clothes were then brought back to India to be sold at hefty prices. The khadi movement aimed at boycotting foreign goods including cotton and promoting Indian goods, thereby improving India’s economy. Mahatma Gandhi began promoting the spinning of khādī for rural self-employment and self-reliance” 8.

Here was a reaction to mass industry, interwoven with a sense of nationalism, and it is per-haps no surprise that the spinning wheel was represented on early ideas for a national flag: India’s modern flag is made from khadi, by law.

Marcos asked local carpenters to replicate the Gandhi spinning wheel from a photograph and Elisio was one of the people he showed how to use it. Five years later, they now employ women from all over the village who weave and embroider, at home, enabling them to gener-ate an income while caring for their children.I got a demonstration of how they make the thread, beginning with separating the cotton from the seed, carding, rolling and then the pure magic of spinning it into thread. Elisio ex-plained that the cotton they use is pure and organic and completely free from chemicals.

There were lots of big pots boiling away, the cotton is boiled for an hour with natural dyeing materials like bark or flowers and then hung out to dry. Finally come the peddle looms where the dyed thread is woven into lengths of pure cotton fabric, or worked on the backstrap loom which will be attached to a tree.I met a lady who sat embroidering an eagle on one of the Huipils and another who sat weav-ing on a traditional backstrap loom. She has been weaving all of her 84 years of life. As I watched her contentedly working away, it struck me how she looked so at peace with her handiwork but also how much of a connection all the weavers at Khadi Oaxaca have with the cloth they are working with.It was truly incredible seeing this whole process come to life from start to finish, the integrity at the heart of Khadi is reflected in the beauty of the cloth itself.

Photo opposite : The spinning of the cotton with great fascination from my daughter Talitiu

8 (Selin, Helaine (1997). Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicines in Non- Western Cultures. The Nether-lands: Kluwer Academic Publishers. p. 961. ISBN 0792340663.)


Khadi Oaxaca

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Kawashima Selkon CO is a very big company, occupying many buildings on the outskirts of Kyoto, currently employing over 1000 people. It is pretty unique in that they do hand and ma-chine weaving all in one business, around 40/50 people do the weaving by hand and they also do all the dyeing of the thread and have an extensive private museum of their accomplish-ments which contains over 160,000 items collected over the 173 years it has been open.

Director of the museum, Mr Tsujimoto, told us about its extended history after the company was began in 1843 by Jinbei Kawashima. The next generation, son Jimbei Kawashima ll, was inspired by European textiles and ancient tapestries after his many visits to Europe.They make small and extremely large weavings, speciality tapestries, theatre curtains and specialized woven recreations of works of art. They also run Kawashima textile school, short weaving courses for international students or graduation students in Japan. The aim is to help create the next generation of weavers.

I found it interesting that the students who want to learn to weave have worked or are work-ing for a business or city firm. They decided they need a way out and, through the courses, many of them quit to become full time weavers, which is very promising for the future of the trade.

It was remarkable to watch both the hand and machine weaving in motion: two completely different realms in existence under the same roof. Machine weaving, where the bobbins are almost human life-size, involves the huge machines churning out 2 to 3 metres per hour and requiring perhaps only 5 or 6 staff to attend when the red warning light signals a problem. In contrast, the hand weaving is so intricate and time consuming it takes 1 person at the loom every day over 3 months to make one obi belt and it is entirely driven by hand.

The huge commissions such as theatre curtains will need to be worked on this loom which is the biggest weaving machine in Japan (photo opposite) and the whole reason why Kawashima needed to relocate from the city of Kyoto to the suburbs, where a special building was built for purpose. A whole curtain will be woven by several employees working on different sec-tions at the same time and will weigh a whole ton when completed.

Kawashima was the first Japanese company to receive a Royal Warrant, and they have worked on many pieces for the Royal family and exhibited all over the world.When I walked around the museum it was pretty breath-taking to see the detail and sheer brilliance of Kawashima's work over the years, particularly the tapestries which were often 6×5 metres in size. There were so many pieces that I walked past and was taken aback as I suddenly realised, when close up, that the pieces are actually woven recreations of some of the most famous works of art in the world. Some of the tapestries are so intricately detailed; they contain over 100 species of birds and plants. It was interesting to see the combination of European and Japanese influences in a lot of the work. They have a licence to weave William Morris designs and had a large exhibition of curtains in his famous ‘strawberry thief ’ print.


Kawashima Textiles

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71Photograph of the ‘Nihon Buyo’ traditional dance performance, taken at the Museum for Traditional Crafts, Kyoto by Mariko Kato

5. Collective Identity

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Collective Identity :

Museum for Traditional Crafts, KyotoAs part of the 7-day annual Festival of Traditional Crafts I had the chance to see live demon-strations and a whole exhibition of the various crafts around Kyoto, of which there are 74 altogether.

I feel excited to discover here that traditional crafts in Japan are officially recognized by the Ministry of Economy, Central Government, the definition being that the item has to be en-tirely made by hand and the process of making not changed for over 100 years. The craft must also be closely related to Japan’s traditional culture.

One of the craftsmen I met had a natural fascination for the craft of braided cord so he has been learning the skill for the past 30 years. This craft is more than 1000 years old. Another man I met is a master craftsman practising Kyo Zogan or Damascening, a 5th century form of inlaying different metals into each another9 (Photos opposite)

The director of the museum, Rie Doi, stressed that hand crafted items should be used in our modern day lives and not be specially reserved for museum pieces or, as it was in the past, made for kings and nobility. Craft should have connection to the user; but it is creating a market - and being able to convert the ancient skills to make items that fit into our day-to-day lives - that will enable the survival of important heritage skills. Despite the official recognition, there are struggles in terms of keeping the cultural skills alive. Rie Doi also talked about craft being taught in more schools and they are working on creat-ing more practical and technical teaching and not taught as historical skills of the past. The demonstrations here in the museum are a great way to show people the different processes and help others understand the workmanship involved.

Another significant factor is people value items that are available through mass industry rath-er than created with real craftsmanship. The 100¥en shop is really corrupting our relationship to products: devaluing our need to pass down skills or repair items. After all, for 100¥ what does it matter if it breaks when you can just buy another one.One of the biggest struggles master craftsmen face, as we have heard many times elsewhere, is that the production of tools is facing an all-time low: one of the biggest challenges at the moment in Japan. One positive, technological advancement is actually helping this problem in Japan and thats the use of the 3D printer in tool production.

The museum is also working hard to collaborate between modern designs with traditional craft, for example, some hand painted Yuzen fabric is now being used in Dior shops as deco-rative wallpaper. One of the areas they are working in most is to create workshops for young high school students to participate, with traditional craftsmen, to help innovate new, modern uses for the work or invent new designs.

9 Kyo Zogan or Damascene, a 5th century form of decorating precious metals with gold or silver, originally from Syria. It was brought to Japan along with Buddhism through the Silk Road and is virtually unchanged in its methods. These patterns are obtained by engraving deep, patterned cuts into steel and then placing a gold foil into the lines of the design. This foil is hammered until the gold (or silver) penetrates into the cuts forming the design. It used to be used for decorating Japanese swords and armour, Then 600 years ago the gun arrived in Japan and the amount of practising craftsmen declined. Nowadays there is 25 designated craftsmen in Japan, 10 of whom are young craftsmen, 3 are apprentices.

75Photographs taken at the annual festival of Traditional Crafts, of the Braided cord maker, Kyoto centre for Traditional Crafts

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The Museo De Mundo Maya in San Cristóbal gave me a great insight into the history and lives of the Mayan weavers. The museum is dedicated to their missions in the preservation and exhibition of textile collections and the study and coexistence of ancient textile traditions. They also do great work in connecting weavers and embroiderers by providing workshops to teach new generations. This is creating a revival of some of the ancient techniques.

“The search for beauty is constant which is why the textiles made at the hands of these talented women are genuine works of art”

One of the current temporary exhibits shows the tortilla bag women would weave for their husbands when going out to work the land for the day. It shows the changes in materials and embroidery techniques used. Another is a reenactment of a traditional wedding, in which you can see some of the original Aztec clothing and then the influences following the Spanish Conquest.

The museo has preserved an extensive collection of traditional Mayan outfits throughout the ages, some 2,500 pieces altogether. The workmanship in many of the older embroidery pieces was breathtakingly detailed and it was truly wonderful to see the history of cloth.There is limited government support for many of the weaving communities in Oaxaca. How-ever, the Museo de Mundo Maya was inaugurated in 2012 by the President of Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto and acting governor of Yucatan, Rolando Zapata Bello.


Museo De Mundo Maya, San Cristóbal

Photo Detail, Showing the embroidery detail taught in classes at the Museo Mundo MayaHuipil woven in Magdalenas, Chiapas, 1955, displayed in the Museo Mundo Maya, San Cristobal

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79Photo courtesy of Sna Jolobil, showing the map of the weavers spread all over the Chiapas Highlands

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Museo Textil Oaxaca

The Museo De Textil Oaxaca is helping to nurture weaving relationships with regular exhibi-tions and workshops to connect both the weavers and the new generations of weavers. It was great to hear more about the stories that make up the parts of the community and families and history within.

Through their projects, people from all sorts of areas can learn and exchange ideas and skills.The museum also has a shop where they sell collections from weavers all over Oaxaca. They have to evaluate the cloth, workmanship, finishes, materials and threads so as to pick the very best quality and have a whole thread library as a resource.

I learned some interesting facts about the history of weaving both before and after the Span-ish conquest and about the evolution of embroidery through European and other influences. One interesting fact is that before needles they would use the point of a cactus 10.

Today, they have over 6000 fabrics and textiles collected from all over the world and are continuing to bring awareness to the weaving communities and their workmanship all over Mexico. When I asked if the museum thought some of the important traditions are being lost, they replied that the world is constantly changing so the hands of the craftspeople must change with it. Change is constantly evolving like the pages of a book and nothing should stay still.

Another objective of the museum is to bring awareness to the entire process of textile cloth to help people to appreciate and value the workmanship involved. They run weekly workshops and demonstrations of the entire process from dyeing the thread to weaving whole pieces and all the steps in between. They have taught lawyers, doctors, teachers, housewives, children and a growing number of people from all over the world as well as within Mexico.

One of the factors which cannot be ignored is that especially in the city of Oaxaca it is clear that many of the younger generations choose to emigrate to mainland USA to find work, which means the tradition of passing down the weaving and embroidery skills are slowly frag-menting in a place where hand skills have so much meaning and value all over the world.

Photo opposite : A bag made from the fibres of the agave cactus, Museo Textil Oaxaca.

10 I was given a private view of their current exhibition ‘Syrup and Wine, Needle and Thread’ which demonstrates the historical use of fibres from the agave cactus. Mexico is the country with the greatest number of agaves and Oaxaca is the region with the highest diversity of spe-cies. The earliest known textiles to date from Mesoamerica were made with agave fibre with the earliest found around 10,000 years ago. The living traces of old spoken words for the agave have proven that this was used at least 4,000 years before our era and that the art of weaving first relied on this ancient fibre before cotton. The exhibition includes bags and shoes woven from agave, an age old tradition still used today in many rural communities.

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Gen-emon Kiln, AritaI arrived to meet the president of Gen-emon, Mr Kaneko and the head of sales, Mr Fuji. Our business cards were exchanged with a bow and then we were invited to sit in the showroom and promptly served tea in their beautiful porcelain cups 11.

I suppose I expected a small workshop with a few potters working away, but Genemon is a highly esteemed, multi award winning business 12. They employ around 40 people now, half of whom are women. Mr Kaneko lives in the grounds which have beautiful traditional Japanese gardens with many workshops and production rooms surrounding it.We were taken to a traditional workshop where the beautiful smoky wood smell mixed with the drying porcelain was such a pleasant welcome. All the people working away on different parts of the process sit in traditional, Japanese style wooden studios working away in silence, calmly intent on their task. There are rows and rows of cups and bowls all in production, placed on simple planks resting on the beams above their heads, one of the workers expertly pulls one out and walks off with a line of 10 cups balancing on his shoulder as if it’s the easiest job in the world.

One of the most surprising things since visiting Japan is the collective sound of the tea break tune, which rings out twice a day and also at lunch time and is actually a rendition of the Westminster chime, nobody seems to know exactly why, even in the remote island of To-kashiki there it was, on loudspeaker for the whole island to hear without fail. The tea break sounded at exactly 3 and it was like a spell was broken as we watched the workers suddenly jump into action and resume the speed of normal people again.Every single piece is carefully handmade, hand painted and fired in a wood burning kiln, which is capable of reaching extreme temperatures to bring out porcelain’s natural strength and beauty.

I was taken through the entire process right from the raw material, the firing stages and to the hand painted stage – one of the interesting facts here is that the men paint the straight lines and the women fill in the decorated patterns in between.

The signature blue glaze has to be fired at 1300° because the blue is so stable and strong for high temperatures. Watching the hand of the painter work away so expertly is mesmerising, One of the amazing things about Gen-emon is that they have mastered the virtually impos-sible skill of fusing porcelain to metal which made the production of table utensils, jewellery and many other works of art possible. The Japanese imperial palace purchased a set of dishes for the crown prince’s engagement and they have also made special pieces for Pope John Paul II, collaborated with Nendo Co and donated two detailed plates to the White House amongst many others. One of their first contacts in 1972 was with Tiffany, New York for limited and unique leaf pattern in celadon glaze.

11 Gen-emon is a Ko Imari kiln, based in Kuyshu which is the cradle of Japanese porcelain. In the late 1500s, Lord Nabeshima brought the Korean potter Ri San Pei and other potters to the Arita area close to port Imari. Ro San Pei discovered high quality kaolin in Aritas Izumiyama quarry. With instruction to perfect the art of porcelain, the Ko Imari or old Imari tradition was developed in 1616.12 established in 1753 83

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“ The centuries old legacy of gen-emon can be attributed to the kiln being steeped in a philosophy of balance and harmony, na-ture and soul, mind and spirit, colour and thought. The extraor-dinary designs and vibrant colours of Gen-emon reflect the true nature of the Japanese mind and soul, the love of nature and life. To this day, Gen-emon resides in the suburbs of Arita surround-ed by the beautiful mountains where the mind and spirit have

been breathing quietly but strongly “

85Photograph taken at Gen-emon, Arita

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It is said that the technique of making Yosegi Zaiku marquetry was invented by Ishikawa Nihei, a craftsman in Hatajuku, Hakone, towards the end of the Edo era. (a period of internal peace, political stability, and economic growth from1603–1867). The mountains in Hakone are blessed with various species of trees. Ishikawa Nihei took advantage of this diversity and the natural colours and shades of the wood types to make elaborate geometric patterns on small boxes and other products. Such a unique kind of woodwork can hardly be found in any other area in Japan.

I met with the descendant of Ishikawa Nihei who gave us a demonstration on how he makes Yosegi Zaiku which is a really beautiful process. The Yosegi puzzle boxes differ in sizes and number of moves required to open them. At the beginning, ran-Yosegi and tan-i Yosegi moyou (pattern unit with basic designs) were mainly made. Today, as machines and means of processing have been improved, Yosegi Zaiku with a variety of elaborate patterns are pro-duced. This traditional technique is highly original and cannot be found anywhere else in Japan.


Yosegi Zaiku, Hakone

87Mr. Ishikawa, Yosegi Zaiku

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Washi Paper, Tokyo

Washi is a style of paper commonly made using fibres from the bark of the gampi tree (fig 1), the mitsumata shrub or the paper mulberry, but also can be made using bamboo, hemp, rice, and wheat. Washi is one of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage Objects. From the UN-ESCO website we learn that intangible cultural heritage is not so much the objects made by craft, but:

“The wealth of knowledge and skills that is transmitted through it from one generation to the next. The social and economic value of this transmission of knowledge is relevant for minori-ty groups and for mainstream social groups within a State, and is as important for developing States as for developed ones” 13.

Washi is generally tougher than ordinary paper made from wood pulp, and is used in many traditional arts. It was also used to make various everyday goods like clothes, household goods, and toys as well as vestments and ritual objects for Shinto priests and statues of Buddha. It was even used to make wreaths that were given to winners in the 1998 Winter Paralympics. Several kinds of washi, referred to collectively as Japanese tissue, are used in the conservation and mending of books.

Mr Tagaki explained the paper actually comes from the bark of the tree, not the tree itself; in fact only 4 or 5% of the tree is used (fig 2). The trees grow very quickly, around 2-3 metres a year and are harvested in December or January as it is important to crop them in very cold temperatures. It requires a long process to make it into a pulp, it is steamed, peeled and then hammered. This is the way it has been done for centuries in Japan.

13 http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/en/what-is-intangible-heritage-00003

1 2

93Photos : Showing the various steps of how Washi paper is made. 93

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GAAPI is on the outskirts of Mexico’s Santo Tomás Jalieza, formed of 44 women all native to Santo Tomás. Interestingly, this is a government initiative, formed 2 years ago. The women all began weaving when they were 5 years old. Traditionally it was the men that were permitted to weave but nowadays it is the women who weave along with their household tasks and looking after their children. It was wonderful to talk about the impact of forming a women’s cooperative and the effect it has had on the women and the village itself.

The Motifs are passed down through history and they will tell a story woven through belts. Among many other motifs I was shown the flower, the stag, the pineapple and the hummingbird.

‘Our work is very beautiful, it’s made with our whole heart and we are weaving together, talking and as the time passes, each piece is made with compassion and love. It gives us pride and we value our work. In other trained professions they may have better income but we will never be ashamed of our work as artists because we are born with an ancient heritage and are proud of where we come from”.


GAAPI, Santo Tomás Jalieza

Photograph Opposite, some examples of the belts woven by the women at GAAPI. You can see amongst the motifs are the fish, the scorpion, the stars and one of the feather dance - a very ancient symbol which is primordial in the history of women.

Photograph Below - The 44 women of GAPPI collective.

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Kyoto Prefectural Goverment, Textiles & Craft Division

Kyoto is the ancient capital of Japan, with a unique history of craftsmanship still very much present today. I met with Associate Director Hideki Kishida, who explained the work they are doing to preserve and promote the traditional craft industries. As with Rie Doi, similar approaches regarding tradition and modern lifestyles were to the fore, with one eye on future demand and preservation of skills a key.

Mr Kishida also talked about the Kyomono Traditional Crafts Festival. This sup-ports and encourages businesses in traditional industries to cooperate with other businesses and or producers and designers so they can develop products that fit into everyday lifestyles and meet the needs of the new innovative markets. He also provided us with the figures for the number of employees the Craft indus-try contributes to Japan’s economy which has been growing steadily the past few years.

Kyoto council has helped create opportunities for craftsmen to attend Milano expo – to expand overseas market of Kyoto crafts and develop manufacturing.Mr Kishida explained about the subsidies they provide for people working with-in traditional industries. To help overcome the major problem of tool availability, Kyoto council provide subsidies to purchase new equipment and train people in each of the processes of labour which provides more jobs.

They also have a scheme where they commend highly skilled experts as ‘Kyo no Meiko ‘or Kyoto Masters. These are over 60 years old, with over 30 years working experience as a craftsman: so far 1,184 Master craftsmen have been commended. To foster new craftsmen for the next generation they have begun to certify des-ignated young artisans as ‘Kyomono Nintei Kougeishi’ or Certified Craftsmen Of Kyoto Traditional Crafts (under 40 years old with over 5 years working experi-ence as a craftsmen) – 129 young craftsmen have been certified so far. In keeping with that scheme, part of the work of Kyoto’s Craft Council Division is to promote the preservation and handing down of high level techniques by having both the experienced master craftsmen and the younger craftsmen work together on projects to restore and recreate traditional craft pieces such as pre-cious cultural assets like shrines and temples.

They also talked about the practical training they provide to young people who wish to work in the traditional craft industry and provide their salary for 6-12 months. Between 2013 and 2015 they trained a total of 34 new craftsmen, 29 of whom are either employed in the business or have started their own company.

They provide workshops for young craftsmen on product development and market-ing over 3 years (last year they trained 38 budding craftsmen who exhibited their new products at Japan Expo, Paris)

One of their sole missions is to encourage young people to wear the kimono once more which in turn helps the kimono weaving and dyeing industry to survive and the cul-tural traditions to continue. They organise exhibitions and fashion shows as well as classes on how to wear the kimono at high schools and universities which is proving to be very successful.In conjunction with this they have created a ‘Kyoto Kimono Passport’, which gives the wearer benefits when they visit temples, shrines and museums to boost the demand for wearing the kimono around Kyoto’s city centre.

97Photograph : CHISO Yuzen, Kyoto

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City of Kyoto Craft Division

CITY OF KYOTO CRAFT DIVISION is working to protect traditional crafts around Kyoto and provide assistance for some of the challenges facing Craft businesses today. Assistant Director Shinichi Nakayama told me they do sim-ilar work alongside Kyoto’s Prefectural Government Textiles and Craft Divi-sion but they work mainly within the tourist industry in the city.

They are helping to create text for children in elementary schools to teach what traditional craft is all about. They help to provide demonstrations to help young children understand the work of the craftsman which is proving very successful.

Mr Nakayama explained that Japanese traditional crafts, for so many years was reserved solely for the Royal Family, and the crafts’ survival depends on creating a market for everyday use: one of their main priorities today. They are working on creating new markets for the masters of crafts, helping to pass on the techniques to younger generations who will help innovate new mod-ern ideas and help them with branding and advertising.

One of Kyoto City’s recent projects is called ‘Kyoto Contemporary’ which brings collaborations between Kyoto’s masters of craft and designers all over the world. Another recent venture connects Manga artists with global de-signers. They have also created a competition for young craftsmen to have a chance to gain exposure in magazines and exhibit their work and receive scholarships for business training and organisation.

Photo : One of the issues we heard repeatedly in Japan, was the problem facing Craftsmen today in not having many tool makers left. This knife was made in the same methods used by Samurai for the purpose of making a wooden shrine.

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101Photograph showing the ‘Dentou’ Mark, Given to Master Craftsmen, APTCI


The Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries, Aoyama Square

THE ASSOCIATION OF TRADITIONAL CRAFTS INDUSTRIES was founded in 1975 with the support of the National Government. The METI (Ministry for Economy, Trade and Industry) established the Densan Act which intends to promote the traditional crafts industry and to continue the legacy of traditional crafts in the future.

A crafted item carrying the “Densan”-mark has been traditionally manufactured using the same method as over at least 100 years ago. Each Master Craftsman who carries this mark will be put through numerous tests and inspections every few months.

The Densan-mark on a product means that it has been manufactured using traditional techniques and raw materials. Only the Minister of Economy Trade and Industry can provide this mark.

“Traditional crafts have been developed through the extensive history of Japan as necessities of daily life differing by region, each area with its own unique features. The Japanese govern-ment recognized the value of these traditional crafts and the need to pass on to future gen-erations the special handcraft techniques used to make them. In order to implement appro-priate measures, the Act on the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries (Densan) Act was promulgated in 1974, since which time the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry has designated 218 items as traditional crafts” .

I met with Aiko Miyamoto and Mr Fukuda who told me about the association’s work and we had a look around the exhibition centre for the METI-designated traditional crafts. Besides conducting various programmes to promote local production, the association also manages a variety of platforms to raise public awareness about traditional crafts products and to help expand the demand for traditional craft in Japan and abroad.

They also do some fantastic work to promote traditional craftsmen and women and pro-vide visitors with guides of workshops all over Japan. The Japan Traditional Crafts Aoya-ma Square opened as a general exhibition centre for METI-designated traditional crafts. Their major programmes of events are:

• Permanent exhibitions of traditional craft products• Special individual craft exhibitions• Reference library, craft consultations, advice and contacts for repairs etc. • Membership club activities for traditional craft enthusiasts.

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Summary :

When visiting the Museum of Traditional Crafts, Kyoto I asked what director Rie Doi sees as the most important of all the challenges in keeping ancient craftsman-ship alive. She said they have very recently been collaborating with travel agencies and international tours and are busy convincing the craftsmen to open up their workshops for visitors over the busy seasons. I am struck by the fact that tourism featured in my conversations with Mexican weavers many weeks before, such as Rosa and her son Flaviel, of Zinacantán, or the family-run businesses of Teotitlán de Valle.

Organizations which exist to promote the strong cultural values of craftsmanship are more important than ever before, both in the UK, Japan and Mexico. Exhibi-tions, workshops and dedicated craft libraries are a great way to help bring aware-ness to many of the skills facing extinction. Workshop visits, in liaison with travel companies could celebrate traditional crafts all around the country. This requires awareness and organisation on a grand scale, so the role of local and national gov-ernment is important.

Government also has a big part to play in education – but so do parents. Teaching our children ancient techniques from a young age means the skills will continue in the family line and create future generations of craftspeople. Schools in the UK could foster a whole new generation of craftsmen and women by implementing ‘Craft Education’ through the current curriculum.

In the Mexican village of San Sebastiene I had the opportunity to visit a primary school built by a group of volunteers who wanted to help the children in the area. The school is made from reclaimed timber and is a light environment with features such as an edible garden, chickens and goats to learn how to look after and lessons which include going outside. In communities like these, there is often no money for schooling, so imagine the possibilities for a more industrialised society where education is at the front of the political agenda.

Government also has a role in supporting small businesses in our rural communi-ties: A powerful way to strengthen the local economy and to provide more work for people and training for more skills.

Japanese craftsmanship is obviously stunning but it is also extremely technically beauti-ful. They will often employ a master craftsman for each process, so the attention to detail and division of labour makes it even more perfect. Yuzen (hand painted and dyed silk), for example, employs 11 different craftsmen who make up the whole process, as it is so labour intensive.

By working together as a collective, craft organizations can accomplish more goals, have great impact and be a combined force. Such a force can further link with modern suc-cessful businesses that have the relevant systems in place in order to work collectively and bring ancient craftsmanship into the high street and so provide incomes for families working from home.

Workshops are a very effective way of creating more value in craftsmanship and by help-ing to pass on some of the older techniques they can create new styles of workmanship too. Demonstrations and workspace teaching are a very valuable way to raise awareness of skills. Having organized ‘open’ workshops would help to bring awareness back to how things are made. This could be a source of interest for visitors, schools and travel compa-nies.

One theme running through my report, which I only noticed through the writing of it: what I could call the ‘feel good’ factor. Spiritual health is an important part of life, one that has an impact on physical health and so health care. The use of natural resources, as opposed to synthetic materials, is a craft of itself. By promoting the use of them we can once again have a connection between the maker, the material and perhaps even the consumer.

Cloth has long been created by humanity and has developed over time until nowadays, like leather; it is available at the fraction of the cost and industrially produced. But with-out understanding the workmanship which is involved to create it we can no longer value it. By reconnecting with the making of cloth, our appreciation and values change with respect to how it is made.

Photograph : Kyoto Contemporary, Kyoto City

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There is great power in Craft. Weaving can tell a story from the past or recreate a future through needle and thread. Small businesses like Khadi are a fantastic example of how the revival of the cottage industry can have a great impact on the life of small villages and help bring back the local economy and power of lo-cal, entrepreneurial craft. Community driven projects can bring people together for the benefit of the community as a whole.

Women working together can be a powerful way to have a voice and naturally, as women we can inspire one another’s creativity in our work. The close knit support between the women in the group I visited in Mexico is deeply inspir-ing; it is clear that in a deeply supportive structure and by working together it can be very beneficial for the emotional support and income for women in the community.

In Japan there is obvious government initiative and regulations in place to pre-serve Craftsmanship. Here in the UK we have organizations like QEST (Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust) but no real leadership from government. I believe the government in the UK could easily implement the legislation required to protect traditional crafts in the UK.

I was impressed by the Japanese technical colleges and how the fostering of unique values in Japanese craft businesses means the master-to-apprentice pat-tern is linked once again to small and/or family businesses.

Major Findings :

There is little protection or legislation to protect traditional crafts in the UK – with some support or recognition from our government there will be value brought back to our traditional craft skills once again. By creating a system where we commemorate Masters of Craft and include an Adopt an Apprentice system we could build a symbiotic relation-ship between both maker and apprentice.

Creating a system whereby the Master is given recognition and perhaps the opportunity and support to pass on his or her specialist skills would be a great way to foster a new generation of craftsmen and women. Traditional teaching or passing on these ancient techniques is key to the survival of some of the cottage industry today. Kurume Kasuri is one of many businesses that are given recognition in Japan as carrying on a special tradi-tion.

I was also struck by the possibility of hand crafts and business methods working in sup-port of each other. There is a place in the world for both the machine and hand woven items. Technological advancements have also helped this process and the connection between that and human, handcrafted traditions can be used to our advantage, rather than one replacing the other. Connecting the crafts in each of their processes can be very supportive, efficient and a good business model.

Teotitlán is famed for its weaving on the back strap loom – if we bring back provincial skills here in the UK, perhaps families will continue to teach the next generations to keep regional skills alive. By passing on the skills down the generations, hand skills can evolve to contain both the stories of the past, while adapting and creating a new future for their work.

Photograph taken by Bia Chizzolini, showing the exhibition of traditional costumes, textiles, instruments, tools, masks, celebratory and religious artifacts from various Chiapanecan indigenous peoples.

Museo de Trajes Regionales, San Cristobal

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Dissemination Plan :Presentations

In May 2016 I gave a talk about my Fellowship at the annual Heritage Crafts Conference, London. Other confirmed talks are:Local Mid Wales Group July 2016Camarthen School of Art VLP, Jobswell, Nov 16th 2016

Open Studio Events

In May 2016 I opened my first shop in Machynlleth Wales where I am busy making a collection of shoes and boots made from each piece of fabric collected/given to me on my travels . Once I have completed the collection I am planning to have open studio days and late night events to talk about my Fellowship and to distribute my printed Fellowship Report.

Exhibitions

I will have an exhibition in my shop premises to show my finished collection.Other exhibitions confirmed for 2016 are:Art in Action, OxfordConwy Feast, Wales, The Selvedge Makers fair, Highgate London, Handmade in Britain, 10th anniversary show, Chelsea.

Report Distribution

I will be distributing my report to relevant organizations in the UK including: The Her-itage Crafts Association, QEST, The Crafts Council and The Arts Council of Wales. I will also distribute my report to all contacts in both Mexico and Japan which include: The Mexican Embassy, The Japanese Embassy, the Japanese Centre for Traditional Crafts and the Association for the promotion of Traditional Craft Industries.

Website and Blog

I have uploaded a collection of photographs from my travels to my website:www.RuthEmilyDavey/WCMTI have also published a blog for others to follow my travels:www.generationsofcraft.wordpress.com

Social Media

I will also post pictures from my Fellowship on social media:www.twitter.com/ruthemilydaveywww.facebook.com/ruthemilydaveywww.instagram.com/ruthemilydavey Photo : Ruth Emily Davey Shoes made from hand woven pure silk

and gold thread fabric, Nishimura Orimono, Japan, May 2016

109Photo Left : Boots made from hand stitched silk lotus kimono, Japan, May 2016Photo Right : Boots made from hand embroidered fabric made by the women of San Andrés Larráinzar, Mexico, May 2016

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Acknowledgments: Firstly I am very grateful to the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust with sup-port from the Lloyd George Foundation for sending me on such an incredible quest and helping me study some issues very close to my heart.Also thanks to the Heritage Crafts Association.

So many people helped me along the way in both Mexico and Japan but I would like to thank in particular :

Rosie Williams and Mariko Kato for being such wonderful guides/translators and general travelling companions. Also to Bia Chizzolini. Special thanks for the guidance and help from Shinichi Higuchi.

Matea Contreras Sosa and her familyAll the women at GAAPI Isabel Antonia, weaver in the square Santo TomasClara Garcia Antonio and everyone at NDAVAASergio Castro Martinez, Museo Trajes RegionalesRosa Reinada Peréz Gonzales and all her childrenMaria Del Carmen Cruz Martinez and all at Skinal NichimetikPaz Vergara, Maya KotanBrenda Ojinaga, Centro de Textiles Mundo MayaMarcos and Elisio, Khadi OaxacaAnisha for the introuction.Pastora Gutierrez Reyes, and all at Vida NuevaSalvador Maldonado Paz, Museo Textil de OaxacaSouchiro Nishimura, Nishimura OrimonoMr Kaneko, Gen-emon KilnMr Fuji, Gen-emon KilnTetsuya and Sayoko Matsueda, Kurume KasuriHideki Kishida, Kyoto prefectural GovernmentShinichi Nakayama, City of KyotoRie Doi, Museum of Traditional Crafts, KyotoSeiji Hatta, Museum of Traditional crafts, KyotoKenji Tsujimoto, Kawashima Selkon TextilesMr Takahashi, Takahashi-Toku

Mizumura Hironobu, CHISOIshida Naoko, CHISOMr Desawa, INDEN-YAMs. Hayakawa, INDEN-YATasuku Murose, Urushi Institute of research and Restoration Kazumi Murose, Urushi Institute of research and RestorationAiko Miyamoto, The Association for the promotion of Traditional Craft IndustriesMr Fukuda, The Association for the promotion of Traditional Craft IndustriesHideaki Kishi, Marukishi co LTDMr Tagaki, Washi Ms Fukatsu, EdoMs Kinoshita For the booksKiyohiko For tour of Sakura and the beautiful bag. Mr. Ishikawa, Yosegi Zaiku

Since I took my 1 year old daughter with me to Mexico and Japan, the trip would not have been possible without the help of my mother Linda Davey, my cousin Jasmine Peñarroja and also Yuko Kato.

I also want to thank my father Peter Davey for the ongoing advice, support and general fountain of knowledge that he is.Also Thankyou Alan James Raddon and Dr Samuel Simmonds for helping to make this trip possible.

Finally to my husband Naphtali who patiently waited at home while his wife and daughter traipsed halfway across the world for over 2 months.

I would like to dedicate this study to our daughter Talitiu, whose name means ‘to celebrate Craftsmanship’ as she was born to a Shoemaker and a Carpenter.

All photos taken by Ruth Emily Davey unless otherwise stated.

(Photo front and back cover) Traditional Japanese Waraji and Traditional Mexican Huarache, two of the oldest shoes in the world.

For the full gallery of photos from all my interviews please visit my website:www.ruthemilydavey.co.uk/wcmt

davey r report 2015 final.pdf

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