Alternative Futures: Kyoto Design Lab Tokyo Gallery (2020)

Participation in Alternative Futures: contemporary design responses to the 300 year Tango chirimen tradition”, curated by Professor Julia Cassim [KYOTO Design Lab] and Associate Professor Kaori Ueda [Kyoto Saga University of Arts], at D-lab Tokyo Gallery.

2020 marked the 300th anniversary of Tango chirimen production. Designers from eight countries in D-lab’s international network were asked to reconsider conceptually its structure and surface and propose new and future scenarios through collaboration, materials experimentation and new graphic approaches.

Deconstructed Geometry

Deconstructed Geometry is a response to the outstanding Chirimen archive explored at the Textile Research Centre in KyoTango and Japanese colour as illustrated in the Dictionary of Colour Combinations by artist and costume designer Sanzo Wada, who helped establish the Japan Standard Colour Association in the early 1920s. 

The original archival material of traditional Japanese patterns and motifs provided a rich source of inspiration to be explored through a contemporary design lens. Drawing on the recurring graphic qualities and aesthetics found in the swatch books, selected samples from the archive were deconstructed, abstracted, reassembled and re-contextualised to create a refreshed pattern language. 

Kangan explored the traditional technique of Katazome and stencil dyeing and printing for it’s contemporary possibilities to inform the shapes, contrast and layout of the design and brought it to life through digital printing. Typical Japanese colours like Shoujo red, Glaucous green, Sulphine yellow and Laquer black are embraced and applied in new combinations.