Collaboration of Tradition and Art
As the second installment of "Atelier," we have started selling "Jun Mitsuhashi's Koinobori."
We have fused koinobori, a traditional Japanese culture, with art, and through a collaborative development effort with dyeing artist Jun Mitsuhashi, a new koinobori has been completed.
Jun Mitsuhashi's soft colors and warm artistic style have created new value for koinobori, while still honoring tradition.
These koinobori are colorful and warm, as if they have sprung from a work of art.
Puffy and warm koinobori with gentle curves
While maintaining the characteristic shape of koinobori, we have eliminated the dorsal fin and kept it simple, yet its charm lies in its unique form featuring soft curves and a large caudal fin.
By sewing the tail with a machine, air tends to accumulate in the belly, allowing it to take on a puffy and distinctive shape when swimming.
Modern koinobori that builds on tradition
With motifs and color schemes that evoke a sense of Japanese aesthetics while remaining modern, a key appeal of Jun Mitsuhashi's work, we have created a modern koinobori that respects tradition.
The gentle touch and soft colors blend well with both Japanese and Western styles, as well as contemporary home designs.
To connect koinobori swimming outdoors to the future
<3m set limited sale>
Due to the declining birthrate and housing situations, koinobori are becoming smaller and smaller, and the original sight of koinobori swimming outdoors is diminishing.
I believe that koinobori gracefully swimming in the sky is their true form. To ensure that the sight of koinobori swimming on Children's Day does not disappear, the purpose of this project is to explore new koinobori designs that fit modern architecture, in order to connect koinobori to the future.
With the desire for people to see koinobori swimming outdoors at home, this limited sale will only include the 3m set.
The person we commissioned to design the new koinobori was dyeing artist Jun Mitsuhashi. We believed that his delicate and gentle sense of color, which extends beyond flat surfaces to installations and three-dimensional works while utilizing traditional batik dyeing techniques, was perfectly suited to create a new koinobori design.
The warm form with soft curves and the colorful palette were devised by Jun Mitsuhashi.
After considering combinations from many design sketches, a new koinobori was completed.
Soft brushwork and warm colors
In order to reproduce the soft brushwork and warm colors that are the charm of Jun Mitsuhashi's works, we did not use the common stencil dyeing method for koinobori, but instead attempted to reproduce colorful hues and shades.
The result is a koinobori with rich colors, a striking contrast to the strong, traditional stencil dyeing.
Koinobori production scene - From hand to hand -
With motifs and color schemes that evoke a sense of Japanese aesthetics while remaining modern, a key appeal of Jun Mitsuhashi's work, we have created a modern koinobori that respects tradition.
The gentle touch and soft colors blend well with both Japanese and Western styles, as well as contemporary home designs.
1954 Born in Kyoto
2020 Retired from Kyoto City University of Arts
Exhibitions
1988 "Architecture" Spiral
1989 "Art of Kyoto: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow" Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art
"International Miniature New Three-Dimensional Sculpture Exhibition" Nagoya (1993, 98)
"Views from the Pacific Rim" USA
"Restress Shadows" UK Touring Exhibition
1993 "Shiga Annual '93" The Museum of Modern Art, Shiga
1994 "4th International Textile Competition Kyoto"
"Contemporary Dyeing" The National Museum of Art, Osaka
2000 "Memories of Algae" Rias Ark Museum of Art / Miyagi
2005 "International Tapestry & Textile Art Triennale" Belgium
2007 "Japanese Suppleness" Denmark
2008 "Cloth & Culture Now" UK
2010 " Weaving, Knitting, Expanding: Forms and Colors of Textiles" Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art
2012 "collect2012" London (2013, 2014, 2015)
"SOFA" CHICAGO Chicago
2014 "Tokyo Art Fair" (2016, 2017)
2015 "Eye, Hand, Mind" Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art
2016 "The Box Project" USA Touring Exhibition
2017 "ESSENCE-IKI" Denmark
2021 Solo Exhibition, Galerie Shokando / Kyoto
2022 Solo Exhibition, Gallery Keifu / Kyoto
Awards
1994 ITF Art Award, 4th International Textile Competition Kyoto
2009 22nd Kyoto Art and Culture Award
2012 31st Kyoto Prefecture Culture Award, Distinguished Service Award
