Shibori: its history and how to decorate with it today
When interviewed by CBS News in 2019, Kiyoko Matsuoka, a Japanese artisan with 50 years’ experience of shibori dyeing, confessed she has never once created a piece she is wholly satisfied with. This is perhaps the truest encapsulation of shibori: a romantic textile tradition built on exacting patience, longing, delicacy and the deftness that comes with experience.
Shibori is an ancient style of resist-dyeing and refers both to the technique and the finished product. The word originates from a verb meaning to wring or squeeze. This is also apt. Shibori encompasses a vast array of techniques (around 100, according to popular legend, each of which creates a slightly different visual effect), but at its heart, it involves the folding, pleating, clamping, knotting, stitching or twisting of fabric to create areas that will be protected from coloration when the textile is placed in a dye bath.
Traditionally, the dye bath was always indigo, resulting in rich blue textiles patterned with geometric white shapes, but other dyes can be used too, creating multicoloured effects similar to tie-dyeing.
Textiles are famously poor archaeological survivors, so it’s impossible to know when shibori was first invented, but it is believed to have been introduced from China into Japan sometime before the 8th century. Once there, it became immensely popular, even revered. Part of this stemmed from the fact that shibori is labour-intensive and therefore expensive: each design must be painstakingly planned and executed, even before the textile is added to a dye bath.
There’s also an element of chance: secure a twist or fold too loosely and the dye will seep in. Kanoko shibori, a method that gives a pattern of dots or circles reminiscent of the dappled hide of a fawn, became so sought after by nobles and wealthy merchants and so marked a statement of luxury that it was banned by laws passed in 1686. These laws were finally repealed two centuries later.
Shibori’s rich history and versatility means that it has long been favoured by designers, and the rise of the Japandi style – a blend of Japanese and Scandinavian aesthetics that is minimalistic and restrained, serene and liveable – has enjoyed a particular resurgence. Indigo shades and the rhythmic patterns characteristic of shibori can be found in myriad collections, including new ones from De Gournay and Pierre Frey (see the ‘Soleil Levant’ fabrics in the bedroom picture at the top of this feature).
Designers Guild has wallpapers – ‘Shiwa’ and ‘Shibori’ – and several shibori fabrics, including ‘Karaoshi’, while Pooky sells shibori-inspired lampshades. With so many options, it should certainly be possible to create a scheme you’re satisfied with, although, perhaps, inspired by Kiyoko Matsuoka’s search for perfection, you might be tempted to keep on experimenting.
