As someone who has a hard time throwing things away, I made this piece entirely from interesting packaging paper, imperfect monotype prints, and fabric labels and photos found in vintage Japanese yukata cotton bolts. The boxy quilt square design is one of my favorites, and I’ve used it in several quilted pieces, and applied the same idea to this paper quilt.
Details
These detail shots show the variety of papers I used, and the structure of the sewing:
The centers of each box shape consist of printed labels and actual B&W photos which were used in vintage Japanese fabric bolts, or tanmono as they are called in Japan. The photos showed models wearing a kimono made from the fabric, so people could visualize it as a finished garment. I thought it was so cool that the photos were actual silver prints! The graphic design of the paper labels really appealed to me. I’ve purchased many bolts of this vintage fabric, and saved the paper labels and photos from each one.
This piece was featured in a solo show I had at the Pacific Northwest Quilt & Fiber Arts Museum in La Conner, WA, in the summer of 2023. It is semi-translucent when hung where light can pass through.
Working with found paper materials presented an interesting engineering and design challenge! I used paper clips and binder clips to help hold the papers together as I sewed them with my domestic sewing machine.
The seams are standard quarter-inch seams, but I had to be very careful to top stitch them down, after seaming… this helped add to the structural integrity of the piece. It’s funny, but even the trimmings from the papers I used were hard to throw away, so I kept them in a plastic bag. Who knows, maybe the trimmings will end up in another piece in the future!
“The purpose – where I start – is the idea of use. It is not recycling, it’s reuse.”
ISSEY MIYAKE
Hakoiri (Boxed) is available for purchase: $2,500 USD plus tax and shipping.
If you would like to purchase this piece, contact me and please mention the name of the artwork in your message. I will send you an emailed invoice, payable by PayPal, credit card or bank transfer. I deliver to the Seattle area, and ship artwork unframed within the U.S.