I’ve been busy surfing the net and loading my brain up with weave, weave and more weave. The video here is from Saori no Mori Osaka studio and is a nice introduction to the calming and creative pace of the Saori philosophy. No mistakes, no restrictions or rules – and no sampling! This is very attractive to me although I know sampling is a wonderful way to get things ‘right’ I find it quite tiresome. I’m very ashamed to admit this and I’m sure my lack of tenacity in this area holds me back no end. But it’s still liberating to just get right into enjoying creating a beautiful weave textile that just appears with minimal or no planning. Just knowing some techniques helps bring out the experimentation.

From the immediacy of this process comes the most delightful textiles and clothes. Flicking through my large collection of Handwoven (USA) and even VAV (Swedish) weaving magazines, I find that many hand woven textiles do emulate machine woven industrial cloth. What am I striving for here? I know I just love textiles and knowing how to make them and the process of creating is part of it, but Saori inspired clothes are so ‘joyful’. I can’t think of another word to describe them.

Below are some images I took in Japan. The last one is the very talented designers at Saori. They just drape and create on the model – the most amazing clothes.

From Saori Worcester USA – An example of new yarns. A creative collection of tops and Saori overload. How about crochet too.

From Saori Santa Cruz USA – A lovely sleeveless hooded jacket.

From Saori Berkeley USA – You just can’t go past purple.

From Saori Ikekuburo Japan – The wow factor is in all of these and these. And more. Then add some woven circle brooches.

I don’t think we can run out of ideas.