Jinzenji Yoshiko
active Japan; Bali, IndonesiaWorking from her studio, called the “Grass House,” in Bali, Indonesia, Jinzenji draws on her natural surroundings for inspiration. Like the other twelve quilts gifted by Jinzenji Yoshiko to the Spencer, this quilt embodies her innovative blending of traditional technique with modern innovation. In particular is her use of bamboo-extracted dye as described below:
Fashion authorities were unanimous in calling Yoshiko’s discovery of bamboo-dyed white a tremendously difficult technical and creative feat. The application of bamboo dye to almost any fabric gives it a beautiful, completely new complexion. When I was shown that even fibers of type 66 nylon film cold take the gorgeous flesh tone, I felt I had been made witness to a kind of twentieth-century magic. In this way, Yoshiko’s secret processes have opened up new realms of the unknown and unseen. Her world is like the paradoxical world of the primitive—springing from the bowels of the earth and connecting our lives with the people who lived before us and those who will come after. Jun’ichi Arai
from Quilt Artistry: Inspired Designs from the East, 2002
