Author: bunkaglobalfashion

On November 24, 2023 we were joined by Sarmily Sarker from BGMEA University of Fashion & Technology, who visited Japan and Tokyo for research. As part of her research schedule, ms. Sarker organized a workshop featuring “Nakshi Kantha,” a traditional embroidery technique of the Bengal region in Bangladesh and India. During the workshop, our GFC students had the opportunity to learn more about the history of the technique, and got to experiment with it firsthand through making some small samples. The three-hour workshop provided the students a space to share thoughts and experiences while embroidering, and we thank ms. Sarker for sharing this wonderful technique with us.

On November 20th, 2023, we organised a special lecture from Diana Gardeneira, an  Ecuadorian-Costa Rican, visual artist and designer. She talked about her latest work “NMTKS” (No me toques in Spanish, Don’t touch me in English), which addresses issues of visibility of violence against women, protection, lack of representation, sisterhood, stories and collectivity. Using fashion’s political means of expression, Diana shared with GFC students her ideas of being a woman and how she confronts patriarchal structures through a series of clothing pieces.

Diana is part of the collective 闘う糸の会／Hilos que Luchan, Manos que Sanan (Fighting threads, healing hands in English), which promotes women’s empowerment and international exchange through collaboration between artists and citizens in Latin America and Japan.

On June 28th, within the framework of the class Japanese Art and Design, we visited Ginza Motoji, a kimono retailer, working closely with textile artisans.
At Motoji, the students had the opportunity to not only learn about how kimono and their textiles are made, but they also had the chance to see and touch many different types of textiles up close.

Ginza Motoji has been active in working as a bridge connecting artisans and customers, through conveying stories of making processes, introducing the people behind the textiles, and the work and effort that goes into creating these textiles. In doing so, they invite many artisans to talk about their work at the store, and they have taken up different collaborations with artisans to develop a new and more contemporary image of kimono and kimono textiles.

One of the latest projects that Ginza Motoji has taken up was a collaboration between an Amami Oshima dyer and a weaver, making use of different types of base colours, to develop different hues of black and create new expressions of dorozome and Amami Oshima weaves. They presented the collaboration through an exhibition of which you can find more information here. GFC had the chance to visit the opening night of the exhibition in Tokyo, which brought together many textile designers and kimono lovers. We are excited to see what future endeavors Ginza Motoji will undertake!

Our 1st application session is open. For this session, all applicants must get in touch by Friday, July 14th.

Please send an email to our GFC address: globalfashion@bunka-wu.ac.jp, introducing yourself (please include your cv and information about your educational background, such as your degrees and transcripts), and write down some possible questions that you have. We will arrange a date for an online session where we will answer your questions.

Based on the information you receive at these sessions, we will ask you to prepare a research proposal and your portfolio needed for the application interviews.

Check for more information about application procedures here.