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ART BY Jan Buday
Woven into the myriad silken strands
and into each pattern that emerges
are the hopes and dreams of the braider.
From ‘The Essence of Japanese Braiding’ by Aiko Sakai and Makiko Tada
Kumihimo is the art of Japanese braiding. Literally, the word means ‘the gathering of threads.’
Using many strands of delicate Japanese silk and other fibers and a braid stand called a marudai, I create kumihimo in a wide variety of traditional and contemporary patterns, some relatively simple, others very complex. I embellish the braids with lampwork beads, which I also create.
Lampworking, another ancient art, is the process of melting colorful glass rods over a torch to create beads in an infinite number of styles and color combinations. I love the combination of silk glass together. Their luminous qualities enhance one another other as each captures and reflects the light.
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For as long as I can remember, I have loved textiles. As a young child in Japan I observed a woman sitting at a loom, tossing a shuttle back and forth and beating the threads into place with a beater. That image has stuck with me all my life – and likely inspired the work I do today.
Later, as a student at the University of Hawaii I was re-introduced to weaving and decided to major in it. A BFA in weaving usually offers little future, but I was hired as Assistant Curator of Textiles at the Honolulu Academy of Arts. Under the guidance and friendship of Reiko Brandon, Curator of Textiles, it was my responsibility to ready textiles for display and exhibition and to conserve pieces in the Academy’s collection. I also studied new acquisitions and their fiber construction, which I found fascinating.
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SEPTEMBER 20 & 21, 2008
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