HaaTs off to Makiko Minagawa

photo: Paula Weideger

They are light and soft; spun- silk stained glass. Makiko Minagawa, Director and Textile Designer of HaaT  employes Kyoto masters using traditional techniques that include salt-shrinking.. The resulting fabric is then dyed. Patterns and colors vary but all have a floaty beauty. During a recent London talk by Makiko Minakawa I fell in love with the example below. It somehow brings together clear tropical sea with Chartres windows.. A flat images does not capture the three- dimensional texture of scarves nor the variety of patterns and colors. (For a group portrait, see above.)

Issey Miyake conceives of his design studio as a collaboration. .But because his name and the brand are identical the other team members are unknown to most people.  Any number may have joined and decamped over the years but Makiko Minagawai has been part of Miyake Design Studio since 1971, the start. That year, because of her creative innovations, she was made Textile Director of Issey Miyake.

 Photo: Kei Ogata

By 2000, Makiko launched HaaT her own label within Issey Miyake Inc. (Tokyo has a stand alone Haat shop. In New York and London HaaT is a sold Photo: Kei Ogatawithin the Issey Miyake's flagship stores.)
   Issey Miyake has increasingly applied his imagination and technical daring to the creation of new textures and shapes using polyester and recycled plastics. Makiko Minagawa focuses on pushing the potential of natural fibers--wool, cotton, silk, bamboo--and new ways of  applying traditional hand made techniques--using crafts people around Japan and in India, too. . The scarves are a lovely example of her innovations for Spring 2016. So too is a quite different expression of her gifts: the dress on the right below. It is woven of linen first processed to make it soft. Next the coat dress is dyed using a special kind of Shibori (tie dye) technique. Itajime, the special craft of  resist-dyeing used in the Aichi area of Japan, is a centuries' old technique employed in adding a family crest to a kimono. Here is is used to create yellow moons against the blackest sky. By the end of Makiko Minakawa's talk the London shop had sold out of the one in my size!

Photo: Yusuke Miyazaki
   Of course a dress or scarf is not like a painting but with an artist like this, there are overlaps. It is not necessary to own a piece to enjoy and indeed to be deeply moved by it.