' Colourful Creatures are often Poisonous...'

Photographer: Yuji Watanabe

Hello Hello!!!
So amongst the festivities and all I thought I would also show you the outcome of the off-season collection of showpieces that I have been working on for the past 3 months in the studio in Japan! As you know I've been creating a new series of works based around the idea of combining the traditional qualities of paper with more current materials.
The final chapter of my dream time spent in Japan working as Artist in Residence, as part of the Mino Paper Art Village Project, culminated in a collaborative photoshoot with an awesome team in Tokyo.


Here's the official spiele about my new work...
'The concept behind 'Colourful Creatures are often Poisonous...' was to utilise Mino Washi in terms of a collaboration between traditional and contemporary materials. My ethos was to combine locally produced paper with unconventional fabrics, techniques and silhouettes to generate an overall collection of garments that represent a fusion of established craft and experimental fashion and textile design.
Mino washi is featured in each piece of the collection and combined materials include polypropylene , vintage kimono fabric, latex, PVC, lurex and metal trimmings. Inclusive techniques involve print, embroidery, crochet, knit, hand embellishment and weaving.
Mino City acted as a muse for my works and prior research. Influences included landscape tones and form in which I translated mountains into colourful geometric layered shapes and used saturated hues derived from my environments and surroundings in Mino. Experiences with the local wildlife encouraged an exploration of various protection techniques used by animals and humans. The notion that often in nature, plants and animals use bright colours to exude the impression of being toxic to predators, provided the basis for my colour palette and this was combined with the human technique of using bells to alert nearby creatures of their presence. '

Photographer:Yuji Watanabe
Hair:Chika Kimura
Make:Nao Yoshida
Model: Olga@Yoshi Inc
And that's the basic juice about the new pieces....they are currently being exhibited as part of 'Let Momo Eat Cake' at the Mino Washi Museum, Gifu Prefecture, Japan until January 10th...more to come on that next time!!!
Love and Wild Boars!!!
Emma xxxx