Shibori

Shibori is known to be one of the oldest Indigo dyeing techniques of Japan. The word Shibori has originated from the Japanese word “Shiboru” which means to squeeze or press. It refers to a variety of ways of embellishing textiles by shaping and securing the cloth before it is dyed. Although Shibori assigns particular groups of dyeing techniques, the word emphasizes on the performance of cloth and how it is manipulated. It gives a three dimensional effect to the cloth by folding, crumpling, plucking, stitching, twisting etc. The Japanese concept of

Shibori explores and recognizes the potential of a textile by creating multiple shape resisted designs.
Shibori was initially the art of the poor. In Japan as many people could not afford to buy expensive fabric like cotton or silk , clothes were often made of cheap fabric. Regular replacement of clothes was neither affordable therefore clothes were repaired and re-dyed. From this, the art of Shibori evolved as a means of making old clothes look new. With Shibori the dyer works in concert with the materials, not in an effort to overcome their limitations but to allow them full expression. And, an element of the unexpected is always present.

In this course we explored tie and dye by doing a workshop at Tharangini in Bangalore. We learnt different methods and techniques of Shibori and made a few products out of the cloth pieces.