*Tamaki Niime shawls feel like a baby's skin as it wraps softly, gently around you. Working on large
vintage looms, sometimes dramatically, sometimes quietly, precisely, she
creates free-spirited shawls, one by one. Breathing new life into a 220-year old
tradition-now is the rebirth of a Japanese fabric: Banshu.
About the works of Tamaki Niime
Tamaki Niime creates Banshu-ori in a new style with her vintage looms, which were previously used in Nishiwaki City between the 1960s and 1980s. Her work is characterized by a deep touch that feels somewhere between a hand weave and a machine weave. She uses primarily cotton in her weaves, sometimes mixing in silk for spring and summer items, and wool or cashmere for fall and winter pieces.
Just as each person has an individual style, each piece is also unique. Tamaki accomplishes this by limiting her workshop to small-scale production, with Tamaki herself also weaving one-of-a-kind pieces. In each of her designs, she strives to create the feeling of "ma" or empty space, as if a painting.
Banshu-ori, or Banshu weave, is a
weaving style from the North Harima District of Hyogo Prefecture in Southwest
Japan near Kyoto. Made by using the saki-zome technique (pre-dying, where the
thread is dyed before weaving), this weaving style has a long history dating
back to 1792. In the postwar era, Nishiwaki City prospered as the center of
the Banshu-ori industry as weavers collaborated with Western designers such
as Burberry and Brooks Brothers.
* Tamaki Niime's Profile
April, 1978. Born in Katsuyama
City, Fukui Prefecture, Japan.
March, 2003. Graduated from Dept.
Of Human Environmental Sciences, Mukogawa Women's University, and ESMOD
International Fashion University, Osaka Campus. Following this, she worked
for about 1.5 years at a textile trading company, building a career as a
pattern maker.
December, 2004. Seeking to
interpret and develop Banshu-ori in new ways, she created her workshop,
tamaki niime.
April, 2008. Tamaki niime opened
its store in Nishiwaki City, Hyogo Prefecture.
May, 2009. Began development and
production of original shawl designs.
April, 2010. Store was moved to a
different location in Nishiwaki City and re-opened as the weaving room &
stock room.
October, 2010. Two belt-operated
looms made in 1965 installed in the weaving room.
Tamaki herself begins weaving
one-of-a-kind pieces.
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