On February 15, the prizewinners of Third Kokka Textile Competition “Inspiration” gathered for the award ceremony held at Cocca, a textile store in Tokyo. In the picture are the applied artworks by Natsuki Camino, who won the grand prize. While being the active illustrator for printed media in magazines and advertisements, Camino designed the cup & saucer bridal gift set for Barneys New York in 2012. Camino uses “Chigiri-e” technique for her works, which features torn pieces of colored paper collaged together to form images – like painting with paper.

Asked for the reason for her entry, Camino responded, “Fabric printed with my artwork sounded thrilling, and in fact it was my dream.”
While one of her entries “apple” is a very textile-like design with the repeated drawn motifs, others depicting airport or lighthouse are just like paintings. The composition for each work is unique, and they would also be good as pictures on the wall.

Masaru Suzuki, who is the textile designer and a judge for the competition, found “new possibility” in Camino’s designs. “The decisive factor in choosing hers was that they had been textiles, but not textile-like designs. Above all, her artworks were really attractive.”

A buffet party followed the award ceremony. With a glass of wine and appetizers, all participants enjoyed the friendly get-together. Other judges got talkative and made interesting comments:

“Today a minority, tomorrow a majority. Have a long-term perspective in your creative activities.” (by Masafumi Arita, textile designer)

“Keep it in mind that this is the art first, the textile second.” (by Masahiro Tobita, textile designer.)

Camino’s winning artwork will become a textile this summer and of course we will feature it at this site. You now have something to look forward to when it comes.

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Report on judging for the 4th Kokka Print Textile Competition

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Report on the award ceremony for the 4th Kokka Print Textile Competition

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Puffy zip pouches with happy flower print

In Japan the weather starts to change around late winter and early spring. It gets warm and then cold, alternately. To describe the seasonal weather phenomenon, we have an idiomatic phrase “Sankan-shion” in Japanese which literally means three cold days followed by warm ones.

As much as 25 centimeters (9.84 inches) of snow was recorded in Tokyo on February 8, the heaviest fall in the capital for 45 years. In freezing cold weather, I cannot wait for spring to come. I miss spring-like coloration and items while some stores have cleared winter coats away to make way for the new spring line.

Fabric flower accessories in the above picture are what caught my eye when I was reading tweets from our Twitter followers the other day. How spring-like and lovely they are!

The brooches and headbands were made by titocetera who sells handmade items online. She says, “Fabric flower is one of my most favorite items to create. It’s so fun! I make petals one by one from cottons or linens, which have a great variety of colors and patterns. I like using cotton fabric with small floral pattern to make its loveliness visible even in tiny petals. Many of the small floral cotton prints have thin and soft texture. Therefore, for making a big fabric flower brooch, I use a combination of cotton and linen with crispy texture to make a double-layered petal. In doing so, I can prevent deformation.”

The headband on the left in the picture is with a detachable fabric flower that will allow you to move the position easily to create your own style. The creator’s recommendation is to put it just above your ear.

She continues, “With fancy yarns or laces, each fabric flower turned out refreshing and delightful items. The fabric flower will brighten you up as everything looks bright during the blooming season. It’s perfect item for you in spring and summer. Please start your spring with fabric flower while it is still cold outside.”

The fabric flower brooch gives you different ways to enjoy. As well as accessorizing your clothes, it can be a bag charm. Don’t you feel like making such an item for the coming season?

Going to titocetera’s blog, you can see her beautiful creation. The blog, which a lot of beautiful fabrics are also introduced, will give you very useful information on textiles and patterns. Worth to check it!

For her blog, go to http://blog.titocetera.com

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Season with heartwarming knitted stuff

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Heartwarming little houses

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A clutch bag with laminated fabric