Board masters

Created using the ancient Japanese art of itajime, a new clothing collection by 132 5 Issey Miyake is full of surprises

- DANIELLE DEMETRIOU

Afternoon sun filters across a workshop in Kyoto as artisan Mamoru Nohara tugs on a roll of white linen thread before winding it around two cedar boards. The fluidity of his movements reflects the four decades he has spent perfecting the art of itajime, a traditional Japanese resist-dyeing technique that involves wood being fastened around textiles to create geometric motifs.

While artisans have long applied this dyeing style to kimonos, Nohara is today making something different – an abstractly asymmetrical two-tone top with spiralling panels of colour, to feature in the new collection of Issey Miyake brand 132 5.

Miyake has long been a master of fusing high-tech textiles and futuristic innovations with the imperfect beauty of traditional craftsmanship techniques, typically with timeless results. And since launching in 2010, the 132 5 brand has been synonymous with creating pieces that often fold completely flat, in origami-esque complexity, yet spring open to form sculptural three-dimensional clothing.

The 132 5 A/W22 collection features a trio of garments (top, trousers, coat), collectively called ‘Triangle Dye’, all dyed in three bold colour combinations by itajime artisans in Kyoto. Unlike traditional itajime, the new 132 5 pieces are crafted in Issey Miyake’s signature recycled polyester, made from plastic bottles. The colour combinations include chocolate brown on a soft yellow undyed base; deep, nearly-black green on fiery orange; and indigo blue on light grey.

The release of the clothing this August also coincides with a special exhibition highlighting the itajime process and collaboration at the Issey Miyake Kyoto flagship’s Kura gallery, with further events also scheduled in Taiwan.