Shibori Bibliography

A list of books and publications about shibori.

ARIMATSU • NARUMI SHIBORI
NOW ON DVD

In 2008, the Guild of Artisans of Arimatsu and Narumi in collaboration with Studio Galli Productions will release the most comprehensive overview of Arimatsu Shibori available in honor of reaching 400 years of continued Shibori production.  Each part of the process is meticulously detailed in this wonderful film, with narrative highlights and English translation provided by acclaimed Shibori author and scholar, Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada.  Come along  with us as we visit artist studios and workshops to see the shibori processes demonstrated by the most expert artisans available today. Includes many contemporary and historical examples of Shibori textiles hand made by local artisans.

MEMORY ON CLOTH: Shibori Now
By Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada

"Through her first book, Shibori, and through her exhibits, lectures, and personal persuasion in every communications medium, Wada has single-handedly changed our field and its language."
-From the Memory on Cloth foreword by Jack Lenor Larsen

Shibori is infinitely more than the tie-dye that became well known in the late 1960s. Shaped-resist dyeing techniques have been done for centuries in every corner of the world. Yet more than half of the known techniques-in which cloth is in some way tied, clamped, folded, or held back during dyeing to keep some areas from taking color-originated in Japan.

Shibori can be used not only to create patterns on cloth but also to turn fabric from a two-dimensional into a three-dimensional object. The word is used here to refer to any process that leaves a "memory on cloth"-a permanent record, whether of patterning or texture, of the particular forms of resist done.

In addition to traditional methods it encompasses high-tech processes like heat-set on polyester (made famous by Issey Miyake's revolutionary pleated clothing), melt-off on metallic fabric, the fulling and felting that made it possible to turn all-natural fabrics into three-dimensional shapes, weaving resist (in which, for instance, a warp thread can be pulled to gather the cloth to resist dye), and dŽvorŽe, in which just one part of a mixed fabric is dissolved with chemicals.

Author Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada has been teaching shibori around the world for nearly thirty years, and helped to establish the World Shibori Network and the International Shibori Symposium. In 1983, she co-authored the authoritative Shibori: The Inventive Art of Japanese Shape-Resist Dyeing (Kodansha International), which in turn inspired many artists to add shibori processes to their repertoire.

The range of vibrant modern art covered in Memory On Cloth is remarkable, and includes work by artists from Africa, South America, Europe, India, Japan, China, Korea, the United States, and Australia in more than 325 stunning photos and illustrations. It encompasses fabric design, wearable art and fashion, and textile art or various sculptural forms. The work of more than seventy innovative artists and designers including Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, Jurgen Lehl, Jun'ichi Arai, HŽl�ne Soubeyran, Genevi�ve Dion, Asha Sarabhai, Junco Sato Pollack, Ana Lisa Hedstrom, Marian Clayden, and Carter Smith is presented, and each artist shares details on the processes that they themselves have created, making this an invaluable reference for artists in every field. A number of innovative artists who combine shibori techniques with knitting, weaving, or quilting are also included, suggesting new ways to combine innovation with more traditional forms. A final section on modern techniques gives extremely detailed information, including recipes on various high-tech processes and the particular methods that individual artists use to achieve certain effects.

As informative as it is inspirational, Memory On Cloth will take its place alongside Wada's earlier work, Shibori, as a definitive text that will help keep shaped-resist dyeing processes a vibrant and important form of modern art.

Katano Motohiko sakuhinshu: Shibori to Ai

Limited edition. Publ. 1976, reprinted 1999. Approx 4kg
A limited-edition volume featuring the works of Motohiko Katano (1899–1975), a painter-turned-dyer, who created a body of sublime shibori work during the last twenty years of his life using indigo and other natural dyes. Guided by Soetsu Yanagi, leader of the mingei (“folk craft”) movement, Katano recognized the potential and beauty of the humble art of Arimatsu-Narumi shibori.

Shibori: The Inventive Art of Japanese Shaped Resist Dyeing

Now available in paperback for under $50 dollars

It has been referred to as "the shibori bible", covering history and development, as well as having many photographs of full garments and fabric details, plus process and technique descriptions with illustrations that can serve as a learning guide.

This book was first published in 1983 and had its seventh printing in 1997. The last of the books from the seventh printing have been sold from the publisher's supply and will no longer be available. Amazon.com is now out, but there may still be some copies at a few book stores around the country, such as the Textile Museum shop. Yoshiko Wada may be able to extend some author's discount to students and artists using this order form