ABOUT ZUSETSU FUROSHIKI AND TENUGUI
Creating Snowflower
My background is in children's book illustration. Over the course of 30 years I have worked for many of the top names in publishing, both here in the UK and around the world.
I've loved working as an illustrator, and when I established Zusetsu it wasn't long before we began to talk about creating our own first design.
When I began Zusetsu, my dream was to make a connection with the incredibly skillful artisans based in Kyoto.
I love how the city's artisan skills have been refined over many years to be the pinnacle of beauty, and how many of these skills have been passed down through generations.
I love the high quality of the furoshiki print and textiles that we stock instore, and as I learned more about the processes I was keen to design our first Zusetsu furoshiki.
The Inspiration: Kyoto in the Snow
It was January when I visited Kyoto to establish Zusetsu.
I learned to fold and tie furoshiki in the city and met with furoshiki companies.
One Sunday morning I stood in the Imperial Palace Gardens as tiny flakes of snow began to fall, breathing in the early sweet scent of the first plum blossoms. I wanted our first furoshiki to capture that moment.
Plum blossoms covered with snow have long been regarded as exquisitely beautiful in Kyoto.
The Heian-era diarist Sei Shonagon, lady to the Empress Teishi, describes them in her list of Elegant Things.
The early Heian Imperial anthology called the Kokinshu contains over a thousand poems. In this one you can see the kanji for Snowflower picked out in pink:
心ざしふかくそめてし折りければきえあへぬ雪の花と見ゆらむ
I have been so
Deeply moved
Here, when I pluck a spray
Th' enduring snow
Seems blossom.
The Inspiration: the Cherry Orchard
Every Spring we walk across the Cotswold fields anticipating the blossom on our favourite small grove of cherry trees.
The white-flowering trees look like snow, especially as their petals scatter to the ground.
A Gift-wrapping for Special Presents
Yukki and I knew that furoshiki would look spectacular in a wedding setting, and so I began the design process, sketching our local cherry blossoms to scatter across a snow-white background.
Our finished design was screen-printed by hand in Kyoto, and looks stunning!
And our first Zusetsu design was named after Yukki - her name means Snowflower!
Snowflower Blue
Owing to the success of our first Zusetsu Snowflower furoshiki, every year we look forward to creating a new design.
Our furoshiki are always made by skilled artisans in the city of Kyoto, and we are honoured to be able to work with them.
Snowflower in a wintry, snowflake blue came next.
Yuzu
We wanted a cheerful and bright design and fragrant Yuzu was the obvious answer!
It has glossy heart-shape leaves and flowers like little white stars.
Winter Crane
I was thrilled to collect our Winter Crane furoshiki in Kyoto.
The design draws on the traditional origami pattern.
We made it in two Christmassy colourways: Crimson Red and Ice Blue.
My Heian Lady Tenugui
When we thought about designing our first tenugui, it had to be of a Heian lady dressed in her many-layered juunihitoe kimono!
I was so happy when I collected them in Kyoto - they were wrapped in a beautiful big furoshiki :)
I designed the image so that it would feature our Zusetsu colours, pinks, reds, and purples.
Purple is a significant colour in The Tale of Genji - the author's name 'Murasaki' is a shade of purple :)
We think My Heian Lady belongs amongst the many princesses who adorn children's playrooms!
Kyoto Spring Geisha Dance
Hello.
When I visited the dazzling geisha dances in the Gion Kaburenjo in the spring, I was inspired to create this design for our very first tea towel.
The maiko is inspired by the beautiful maiko in a sky-blue kimono who helped the geisha with tea ceremony just before the dances.
When the geisha and maiko first come onto the theatre stage, the backdrop is a silver fusuma sliding door that is reminiscent of the Kyoto Imperial court - it is a nod to the antecedents of the dance.
Kyoto was bursting with cherry blossom in the spring, and so I covered the design background in cascading petals.
To create an impression of the vivid blue spring skies I drew the kanji for 'Kyoto' in the maiko's sky blue.
Kiyomizudera was drawn from a photo that I took early one morning during Gion Matsuri when the temple was very quiet and peaceful.
The green ribbon pattern is a beautiful design that features on a sudare bamboo screen at Shimogamo Shrine.
The tea pot is one that I drank tea from in a little teahouse near Shimogamo.
And of course I had to draw a furoshiki for the tatami floor!
You can see that this tea towel brings back lots of beautiful memories - I hope it brings back lots of lovely memories for you too.
This is our very first Zusetsu product that has been made in England. We've chosen the company that make products for the National Trust to make ours too, as we know the quality is wonderful!
It is made from 100% organic cotton.
You can read more about it in our blog called Our New Zusetsu Tea Towel!
