THE STORY 23 SPRING SUMMER

A single flower arranged in the bamboo basket. Two attributes poles apart, strength and flexibility, coincide without any contradictions are seen in the bamboo baskets serenity and the flower laying dignified along the weaves.

Throughout the seasons, as the flowers arranged change, the bamboo basket shows a different expression. Both the flower and bamboo basket provide inspiration for each other, existing in exquisite balance, a one-of-a-kind relationship. It is this relationship that Maiko Kurogouchi focused her attention to, as the flower and bamboo are one, so are clothes and the women who wear them.

Bamboo craftsmanship has been part of Japanese people's everyday lives for generations, from baskets, blinds, brushes to fans. After the mid-Edo period, as Sencha culture from China became popular in Japan, bamboo crafts including bamboo baskets as flower vases gradually began to make their presence in Japan. Adopting and adapting, unique Japanese techniques and expressions were developed. At the same time, aiming to break away from the Chinese-origin bamboo basket model of the time, with skillful craftsmanship it is when Rokansai Iizuka’s excellent works began to appear from Taisho to Showa period pushing crafts into the realm of art.

This season, Maiko Kurogouchi developed the collection based on various bamboo baskets she encountered through her journey researching Japanese bamboo crafts and culture, including the works of Iizuka Rokansai. The collection unravels the different expressions of bamboo craft, from weaving techniques, such as ‘bundle weaving’ a speciality of Rokansai, designs, figures of bamboo baskets, and the natural colour palette reminiscent of bamboo forests and soot bamboo. Let us step into the bamboo grove, the story of 2023 Spring and Summer.