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This fall, experience the awe-inspiring artistry of NUNO, the iconic Japanese textile design studio that weaves together centuries of tradition with cutting-edge innovation. NUNO’s immersive installations demonstrate fascinating threads of connection across daily life and contemporary art with fabrics that reflect tradition alongside modern materials and sensibilities.
Led by renowned designer Reiko Sudō, NUNO’s collaborative approach to design has left a powerful impression on Japan’s textile manufacturing communities as well as the international textile scene and art world. Weaving Time: NUNO –Textiles of Tradition and Transformation offers an exclusive look at the inspiration and experimentation at the heart of NUNO’s creativity. Featuring vibrant and compelling fabrics created across eight specific regions of Japan, NUNO’s championing of small community makers illuminates the breadth and depth of contemporary Japanese textile design. This unforgettable exhibition includes site-specific installations and a hands-on touch wall that will make you rethink your relationship to cloth.
Continuing in the Calvin and Mayho Tanabe Gallery, NUNO’s collaboration with master Japanese woodworker Chuzo Tozawa has created an installation of classically inspired folding-screens. These subtle interior design pieces showcase how beautiful bamboo frames with rain-themed fabric can transform architectural space.
Reiko Sudō is the Design Director of renowned textile design company NUNO. In this role, she and her team create innovative new textiles that blend Japan’s traditional dyeing and weaving practices with modern cutting-edge technology and materials. Her works are in the permanent collections of New York’s Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, and Tokyo’s National Museum of Modern Art, among others.
Sudō is the recipient of the Mainichi Design Award, Japan Interior Design Award, and the prestigious Award for Arts Encouragement from the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. In addition to her work for NUNO, she helps pioneer more sustainable practices in fabric and clothing manufacturing through advising the international retail company, MUJI, as well as serving on the Japan Design Committee. She is also Professor Emerita at the private arts and design college, Tokyo Zokei University.
Portland Japanese Garden would like to thank The Schnitzer Care Foundation, Catherine Sasanuma and Taisuke Sasanuma, David Sneider and Naomi Pollock, Ferguson Wellman, and The Japan Foundation for their support of arts and culture programming.
Select a day to purchase daily admission tickets for this event. You can purchase daily admission to the garden up to 10 days in advance.