Kimono Tango

Kimono Tango

When I was in Japan in January I met my old friend Chizuko, and she presented me with these beautiful cushions (she calls them pillows), plus some table runners. They are all made by hand using kimono and obi (Kimono belts) materials, and you can get them from her cottage industry shop Komono Tango. 

I think that it is a fantastic idea to recycle kimono fabric: the materials are beautiful: silk and often with fine gold and silver threads, traditional designs, and handwoven by craftspeople. I had some old kimono and obi cuttings myself that I had made into cushions a few years ago and they still look like new! I added Chizuko's ones and now they are all on my bed. 

If you like Japanese design and craft do have a look at Kimono Tango's website in English: they make cushions to order and send them all over the world. Kimono Tango is made up by a group of Japanese mothers and grandmothers who are trying to make ends meet in the current economic crisis, which was worsened by the recent earthquake and tsunami.

They make everything themselves, often using their heirloom kimonos and obi. You can only make about 6 or 7 cushions from one obi, and Kimono Tango uses fabrics exclusively from 1955 to 1965 circa, to make sure that they are real silk, and handcrafted. I can really appreciate this, some of you may know that I have a passion for Japan, but I also have a passion for textiles, especially Japanese textiles, since my major at university was Japanese art and textiles of the Edo Period (1603-1868).

Kimono Tango's and some of my own cushions

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini  ©