lifestyle THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2014 Features Shibori lamp shades from the Suzusan Luminaires collection, Shizuku. — AP Rolls of shibori fabric produced by Eskayel, a design firm based in New York. rom tablecloths to duvet covers, iPhone cases to wall- centered on bedding, while Ralph Lauren’s features swim paper and startling calf-skin wall hangings, the ancient trunks and clothing. Levi’s has even come out with shibori- FJapanese resist-dying technique of shibori has gone inspired jeans. But while mass-produced items lack the mainstream. Vera Wang, Ralph Lauren, Eileen Fisher, Levi’s nuanced appeal of handcrafted works, they bring a surpris- and innumerable fiber artists are breathing new life into the ing touch of texture and pizazz to the familiar. craft. “The stillness and beauty of it really centers me,” said For those inclined to take on do-it-yourself projects, shi- Oriana DiNella, who recently launched her own Web-based bori has never been more accessible. It can be done easily at shibori line, including linen tableware, pillows and throws - home using minimal equipment. Urban Outfitters sells its and large leather wall hangings - all made to order and hand- own shibori kits, and lessons are widely available online, from dyed in organic indigo. “It feels like a rebellion against the basic for beginners to truly advanced. Martha Stewart Living fashion movement, where everything seems so fast and dis- features a project on its website using a standard pressure posable,” the New York-based designer explained. cooker to make elegant shibori at home. Shibori is slow. It takes time, and has been around since Serious shibori artists and workshops across the country about the 8th century. The word comes from the Japanese and internationally can be found through the Berkeley-based shiboru, meaning “to wring, squeeze or press.” The technique World Shibori Network. With a membership of dedicated arti- involves twisting, tying, crumpling, stitching or folding fabric sans in Japan and around the globe, it was founded in the - usually silk or cotton - in various ways, transforming the 1990s because of fears that the traditional craft would disap- two-dimensional material into a sculptural, three-dimension- pear. Despite widespread interest in shibori in the West, “we al form. This sculptural shape is then traditionally dyed, origi- are still concerned with its survival in Japan,” explained nally using indigo, although a huge variety of colors and dyes Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada, the organization’s president and co- are now used. Sometimes, the same fabric is then twisted in founder. some other way and then dyed again. When the wrappings Wada, author of “Shibori” and “Memory on Cloth” (both are removed, the folds and creases where the fabric resisted published by Kodansha), has taught and written about shi- the dye form distinctive crinkled textures and patterns. bori for over 30 years, co-founded Berkeley’s Kasuri Dyeworks A sort of “memory on cloth,” Shibori also encompasses in 1975, and helped introduce shibori to the United States. Issey Miyake’s revolutionary pleated clothing, fulling and felt- Now, her focus is ensuring its survival in Japan. “There used ing, and other methods of transforming natural fabrics into 3- to be thousands and thousands of artists working on this. D shapes. The work of Hiroyuki Murase exemplifies both the Now there are not so many people doing it using traditional 3-D possibilities of shibori and the bridge between tradition- techniques,” said Wada. She said iPhone covers and poufs al and new. Murase grew up in Arimatsu, Japan, where shi- A shibori tablecloth, runner and napkin on a table. A shibori leather wall hanging. made using digital techniques, far from being silly novelties, bori has been done using traditional techniques for 400 are crucial to the future of shibori, which holds little appeal years. Today, his array of Luminaires lampshades and haute wild, tie-dyed pieces that became emblematic of the ‘60s and to most young Japanese. “Adapting shibori to something couture fabrics, designed for the likes of Christian Dior, are ‘70s. the look of shibori patterns using ink, water and watercolors, contemporary is the key to its survival,” she said. “When the the cutting edge of modern shibori. There’s a sense of timelessness and calm to the modern followed by digital printing techniques. big designers come out with it and young artists take it in Murase’s family company, Suzusan, was founded there a shibori pieces, and also a renewed focus on workmanship “We have wallpaper, rugs, fabric, pillows, baskets, iPhone new directions, then more people here and in Japan start to century ago and has designed shibori fabrics for Miyake and and functionality. “I love the bleeds, the fluidity of it. I love cases, stationery, prints and wall hangings. Oh, and poufs,” pay attention.” — AP other designers. Murase founded and is creative director at a how the light shades of indigo can be so pale and watery and said founder and creative director Shanan Campanero, when separate company by the same name, Suzusan, in the navies can be such a deep, deep blue,” DiNella said. asked about the company’s shibori-inspired offerings. Dusseldorf, Germany. But shibori is still most widely thought Brooklyn designer Rebecca Atwood uses modern fiber-reac- Compared to the tie-dyes of a generation ago, she said, of as a sort of tie-dyeing. Today’s incarnations are as different tive dyes for her Blauvelt Collection, which includes pillows today’s shibori-inspired works feature patterns that are more from their early Japanese predecessors as they are from the and pouches. And home-design purveyor Eskayel is creating careful, deliberate and traditional. Vera Wang’s collection is German movies in focus at Berlin global film fest erman movies including a drama “We have a lot of films where people are about the love triangle of Sturm und living in very narrow systems, for example, GDrang poet Friedrich Schiller will religious systems,” Kosslick told Reuters. “We dominate the main lineup at Berlin’s interna- also have some strong films about kids.” tional film festival this year, director Dieter “Young people in the world are around 2 bil- Kosslick said on Tuesday. But world cinema lion, and these people are the last ones in a talent will not be absent at the 64th chain of suffering,” he said, referring to “Berlinale”, which kicks off with the world Sudabeh Mortezai’s “Macondo”, a coming-of- premiere of US director Wes Anderson’s “The age story about a Chechen boy in a refugee Grand Budapest Hotel”, a comedy about a settlement in Vienna. canny hotel concierge in the 1920s starring While discussing refugees, Kosslick said Ralph Fiennes and Adrien Brody. he was trying to help Bosnian Roma actor This file photo shows blues guitarist Buddy Guy performing at Eric Clapton’s This file photo shows recording artist Barbara Mandrell at Anderson and other global stars such as Nazif Mujic, who won best actor award at the Crossroads Guitar Festival 2013 in New York. — AP photos the 43rd Annual Country Music Awards in Nashville, Tenn. George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Charlotte Berlinale last year, to get asylum in Germany Gainsbourg and Forest Whitaker will grace and had invited him to the festival. News Berlin’s red carpet, Kosslick told a news con- that Mujic, who played himself in the grim 12 artists inducted into Musicians Hall of Fame ference. The annual cinema showcase, which film “An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker”, runs from Feb. 6-16, will screen more than was facing deportation after his first asylum 400 films, but the main program includes 23 application was turned down made head- he Musicians Hall of Fame inducted 12 new Industry Icon Award to Mike Curb, the founder of favorite things that you find yourself humming from movies, of which 20 will compete for the lines in Germany this month. “We brought members across the genres, including blues- Curb Records. Performers for the awards show day to day,” said Lee, who is best known for perform- “Golden Bear”. him in contact with a lawyer,” said Kosslick. “I Tman Buddy Guy, British rock guitarist Peter included Neil Young, Duane Eddy, Brenda Lee, The ing in the CBS Orchestra on the “Late Show With For the first time since 2002, it will feature hope we can help him, it’s a terrible situa- Frampton and pedal steel player and country singer Oak Ridge Boys and Chris Isaak. This was the first David Letterman.” four German films, including Dominik Graf’s tion, all these people with no money and no Barbara Mandrell. Also inducted during Tuesday’s induction since the Musicians Hall of Fame moved Barbara Mandrell, who was the first artist to win “Beloved Sisters” about the relationship hope.” The Berlinale’s competition lineup ceremony in Nashville were Randy Bachman from to its new permanent museum location inside the CMA Entertainer Of The Year for two consecutive between 18th century poet Schiller and two includes three Chinese films, “set outside the The Guess Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive, Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium. years, said learning how to play the steel guitar and beautiful sisters from the penniless aristocra- glamorous cities”, Kosslick said, and several country musician Jimmy Capps, bass guitarist Will “I don’t like the word ‘rock star’ or ‘super star,’” said the saxophone helped to launch her career while cy. Others are Edward Berger’s “Jack”, about a movies from Latin America including “Praia Lee, rhythm guitarist Corki Casey O’Dell and country Bachman after the induction ceremony. “I am a gui- still a teenager. “It opened the doors for me, ‘cause 10-year-old looking after his younger broth- do Futuro”, a gay love story set in Brazil and guitarist Velma Smith.