Studio Rene Siebum

2025 . Craft . Silk Kimono

Today I had quite humbling experience when I visited the Oshima Tsumugi Silk village in Amami, Japan. It’s a bit hidden in the hills close to the Pacific Ocean 🌊.

As practising a craft myself you often can relate other crafts, understanding processes and so to say you can “read” and value what you see in how things are made. But today was different.. seeing the craftswomen and men working on the silk fabric to make kimonos is so complex and precise it’s even hard to grasp while looking at it live.

The proces of these fabrics start with the preparation, the silk is carefully prepared with starch from seaweed and dried for 10 days outside and 10 days inside where humidity / sunlight / airflow are all factors that need to be monitored by human sense that demands years of experience.

Next the weaving pattern is being prepared and calculated and then…

The threads are then dyed into a pre calculated pattern… by hand

So the threads holds a sort of patterncode from which the end pattern then is being weaved in two directions…

The end results are beautiful and refined but to see the pride in their work and the valuable material and skills they develop for me is true magic. 💫

2025 . Takayama . Craftsmen

At the moment I’m travelling through Japan and came back to Takayama in the Hida mountain region, famous for its woodcraft. I was here 13 years ago and already impressed by the skills of the craftsmen here, they were the designers of their time shaping buildings and everyday objects in practical use, exploring their skills.

Today I learned that the craftsmen could use their skills to pay taxes to the government as their skills were so valuable. They would go to the capital and do repairs on government buildings instead of paying money and only needed to work 50 days to earn enough for a whole year… imagine that..

All over town you see how the people here lived and worked with wood, traces of time and wear are visible which is considered an asset instead of weakness. For me it’s a great inspiration and gift to be able to see endless skills in such inspiring and beautiful surroundings🍁🍂 🍀

! #🇯🇵

2025 . Ash . Capsule

2 bowls that combine into a box / capsule

Diameter 10 cm | Height 9 cm

Price €120