Conversations with Cloth
Conversations with Cloth are streamed talks featuring esteemed textile artists and artisans, specialists, and scholars of the textile field, including shibori, natural dyes, sashiko and quilting, weaving, fashion and costumes from around the globe.
Hosted by Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada, founder of World Shibori Network Foundation, with Ana Lisa Hedstrom, a shibori artist, they share their expertise and wisdom. The tone for this online series is that of an afternoon tea with shop talk on shibori’s socio- and geo-cultural history as well as critiques of contemporary adaptations in artworks and fashion. The title of the series Conversations with Cloth was inspired by Ana Lisa’s philosophy working with fiber and dye for over 40 years.
Our purpose behind these series is to share and continue the dialogue of rich history, art, craft, & design practices interwoven with the use of needle, thread, dye, and fibers. The CWC program is an archive of documented oral histories of people, from the past and present, who have contributed to the evolution of the textile field by building on tradition with innovation. They pass on tangible and intangible knowledge to the next generations. CWC demonstrates these traditional technologies that inspire us to push beyond boundaries and create innovation in surface designs.
Please see the menu on the left to learn more about each of our four CWC series, and episodes.
To Rent Episodes and other WSNF films available
Series
Conversations with Cloth, Series 1
Fall/Winter
2020 - 21
This series focuses on Shibori, the technique Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada introduced and taught at Fiberworks in Berkeley, California, in 1975, where she also met Ana Lisa Hedstrom. Both women dedicated their life’s work to exploring shibori. This first series introduces four distinct shibori techniques: Arashi Shibori, Nui Shibori, Itajime Shibori, and Machine Sew-Resist and Complex Substrate.
Conversations with Cloth, Series 2
“Shibori Connecting the World”
2021
The Conversations with Cloth series continues, connecting Japanese Shibori tradition to the world while traversing cultural landscapes from the familiar to the fantastic and mysterious. We celebrate shibori phenomena from American tie-dye to rich and varied cultural traditions in North, Central, and West Africa; from the Indian subcontinent, Indonesia, and Cambodia to Southwestern China and the Himalayas; and finally to pre-Columbian South America and Mexico. In these four episodes, using Shibori as a common language, co-hosts, Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada and Ana Lisa Hedstrom, decipher patterns that reveal memories imprinted in the cloth by dyes.
Conversations with Cloth, Series 3
“Stichery Stories””
2022
WSNF is pleased to announce Stitchery Stories, in the Conversations with Cloth series featuring the works of textile scholars, designers, and practitioners: Yoshiko I. Wada, Takao Momiyama, Atsushi Futatsya, Gao Yu, and Dr. Tomoko Torimaru. The six episodes will focus on etymology, Japanese folk stitchery, Sashiko, Boro: Japanese and Chinese and the origins of Miao embroidery.
Conversations with Cloth, Series 4
“Felt Stories””
2023
WSNF is pleased to announce Felt Stories, a set of programs in the Conversations with Cloth series. The four episodes are presented by Jorie Johnson, a wool and felt specialist, artist, and researcher from Kyoto, Japan has been on the research team for the ancient Japanese Imperial felt rugs that are colorful and intricately patterned and are housed in the Shosoin Repository in Nara, Japan.