Japanese Denim

Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion

I was lucky to attend the private view of Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion curated by Japanese fashion historian Akiko Fukai,(see image below) Director of the Kyoto Costume Institute, the exhibition curates Japanese design from the 1980’s.Japanese fashion made an enormous impact on the world fashion scene in the late 20th century and designers such as Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto recreated the very basis of fashion. The works shown alongside Kawakubo’s protégé, Junya Watanabe, together with the acclaimed Jun Takahashi, and the new generation of radical designers including Tao Kurihara, Fumito Ganryu, Matohu, Akira Naka, Mina Perhonen and Mintdesigns. I have added examples of Tao Kurihara more commercial work which is made or and worn with denim and suggest visiting the Dover Street market to see more of her denim creations.....

Julie Flourish - Patchwork & Quilting

ABOUT - JULIE FLOURISH:
I am an artist who is interested in the transformative power of quilting. Be it the transformation of an otherwise “superficial” object into one with soul and depth when quilted together or the personal transformation that occurs through the meditative process of its creation. I am interested in people who resist trends and over consumption. The people who in essence wear the same outfit day in and day out until the garments are too thread barren, too paint stained, too ripped & torn to be re-patched and are, at last, un-wearable. I’ve been saving these masterpieces from the trash heap by collecting them from their makers and am stitching them into patchwork wall hangings and meshing them with icons of popular culture

Hayley Brookes

As a textile artist I am inspired by tradition. However, in today's market all artists aspire to look for something diffrent.

I have taken inspiration from New York based textile artist Julie Floersch, and have begun producing my own patchwork and quilted items, which incorporate both vintage and contemporary fabrics, often featuring my own illustrative prints.

The two denim items, created with recycled jeans, use traditional patchwork methods and combine with my own printed fabrics to create a vibrant piece of functional art. Both were exhibited in the 'Denim ID' Exhibition at Urban Outfitters, Birmingham in April 2010. My aims with the jewellery piece were to produce a piece of traditional patchwork that functions in a new way - a wearable piece of patchwork that functions outside the traditional throw or quilt.

I am now moving my quilted work forward, and am beginning to produce large-scale digital prints of my illustrations which are embellished through quilting and embroidery.

Julie Floersch - Denim Patchwork

Julie Floersch is a New York based textile artist. She produces large-scale wall-hangings, quilts, 3D textiles, as well as cushions and even patchwork jewellery.

Floersch encorporates used denim in to her patchwork, recycling old jeans in to works of art. Her use of the culturally identified American denim speaks to the viewer, symbolising her love for her country.

The use of denim in Floersch's patchwork pieces have updated the traditonally thought of craft, thrusting the craft of quilting in to the realms of high art.

Post by Hayley Brooks