Monday, September 28, 2026
1:30 PM – 5:00 PM CEST
Basel, Switzerland
Instructor: Hiroshi Murase from Arimatsu, Japan
Material fee: A material fee is collected on-site on behalf of the instructor to cover material fees in US$, CHF, or Euro cash. Please check back on this site for the amount, which will be determined by the end of July.
Skill Level: All
Hiroshi Murase, our Master Arimatsu Shibori Artist and Instructor, travels from Japan to lead this workshop–a new WSNF offering making its debut at the 12ISS. We think this workshop will lead to provocative thinking, design, and making through manipulation of wool cloth. The sheep’s wool fiber has microscopic scales on its surface meant to cause an interlocking of fibers that trap air and keep the sheep warm.
In cloth, the scales on wool fibers allow for interesting manipulations and transformation of the fabric–matting, shrinking, felting–to create different densities, textures, and shapes. Add shibori to the equation and there are a plethora of possibilities for transformation and dye-resist! Murase-san shows us how to use the shibori technique of tsumami or pinching. We will work with a fulling wool gauze as substrate. Come think, handle, experiment, and make with us– taking advantage of the qualities of natural wool fiber to tease out interesting surface designs, shapes, textures, and more from the fulling wool gauze. Junichi Arai, the innovative textile engineer-designer, created intriguing textures and sculptural effects on fabric by understanding and using this natural quality of wool fibers–weaving wool fibers with other fibers, using shibori, then manipulating for matting and shrinkage of the wool.
You’ll have an opportunity to share your thought process and results for critique and discussion.
Space is limited.
We will be working with a creamy white Japanese fulling wool designed by Murase-san for shibori sculpting.
Hiroshi Murase was born 4th generation into a textile family of shibori-stencil pattern-making artisans in the traditional shibori production center of Arimatsu-Narumi, Japan. He has been deeply rooted in the art of shibori his whole life and well-versed in a wide range of shibori techniques.