"Tenugui" is translated as a traditional Japanese towel. Because tengui are long and thin they make amazing, fast drying kitchen towels but they can be used in many other ways as well — for gift wrapping, as a scarf or handkerchief, or even a decoration for your home.
The fabric for these Tengui are hand-dyed in Sakai city by artisan Yoshikazu Nishikawa. Mr. Nishikawa is the fourth generation of the Yoshikazu factory. He uses a traditional technique to bleach the fabric and remove impurities before dying called "sarashi" and then uses a trandional dying technique called "chu-sen." Nishikawa's factory is the only one in Japan that still uses both traditional techniques.
These Tengui were designed by artist Aoi Huber, who breathes new colors into the traditional Japanese craft.
Mr. Nishikawa described the process of dying Aoi Huber's design on the Tengui: "It is a new and difficult design for tenugui that is hand-dyed, not printed. It was difficult to avoid the mingling of each color. Some colors might seem similar, but each differs, so it took a lot of time to create the dyes to express the subtle differences. In spite of the difficulty, I am satisfied with the finished look that is worth a lot of time and effort."
Huber Aoi’s Tenugui are a part of HADO's "Work from Hands" Project. Learn more about the artists and craftspeople behind these Tengui here.
Specs:
- 100％ COTTON
- Size: 35×90cm
- The ends might start to be frayed after several uses, you can either leave the fringe or cut them