Textile Museum Press Room

The Textile Museum will present  Fabrics of Feathers and Steel: The Innovation of Nuno, October 17, 2009 – April 11, 2010 to complement the couture designs on display in the concurrent exhibition Contemporary Japanese Fashion: The Mary Baskett Collection. Nuno (meaning “functional fabric” in Japanese) integrates traditional techniques and aesthetics with cutting-edge technologies to create some of the world’s most innovative and influential fabrics. Made out of materials as varied as steel, bamboo and bird feathers, Nuno textiles provide the starting point for fashion designers and are housed in museum collections around the world.

The Nuno Studio

The international success of Japanese fashion designers owes much to the talented textile designers and manufacturers who enable their creative visions. Japan maintains a particularly rich textile tradition, and in recent decades has emerged as the world’s leading producer of technologically advanced fabrics. Founded by Junichi Arai and Reiko Sudo in 1984, Nuno has been under the direction of Sudo since 1987 and has developed from selling traditional Japanese textiles to applying handmade techniques in innovative ways. Following the mantra “Why Knot?,” Nuno experiments with an eclectic array of materials, as well as unorthodox finishing methods, such as burnishing, burning and chemical dissolving to produce their fabrics. Everyday materials such as steel and cotton are transformed by hand and machine into ethereal and compelling textiles that are renowned around the world. Deftly interweaving the traditional and the experimental, hand production and machine-made, Nuno creates beautiful and often conceptually witty fabrics that reassert the rich artistic potential of the textile medium.

About the Exhibition

The exhibition at The Textile Museum will feature 18 examples from the Nuno studio, dating from the time of the company’s founding in 1984 to the present day. The fabrics will be hung in galleries adjacent to the showing of Contemporary Japanese Fashion: The Collection of Mary Baskett, inviting visitors to experience the design process from start to finish – from structure to style. “In contrast to their Western counterparts, Japanese designers usually begin with the fabric, or even the thread, as the starting point in their design process. Innovative textile technolgies such as those pioneered by Nuno have been pivotal in creating the distinctive forms characteristic of Japanese fashion, so these two exhibitions complement each other in an exciting and very meaningful way,” says Lee Talbot, associate curator for Eastern Hemisphere Collections at The Textile Museum. Maryclaire Ramsey, CEO of The Textile Museum says, “We are excited to be opening these two exhibitions this fall – and feel they are both relevant in a city with a growing high-fashion scene and a strong international presence.” The Textile Museum Fall Symposium, “From Kimono to Couture: The Evolution of Japanese Fashion,” October 16 to 19, 2009, will continue on themes from both shows and will feature lectures by leading scholars in the fashion field from around the country.

For more information, or to view the press release CLICK HERE (pdf)

On Sunday, August 9, Maya Soetoro-Ng, President Obama’s sister, joined the Ambassador of Indonesia, Textile Museum Board President Bruce P. Baganz, CEO Maryclaire Ramsey and other distinguished guests for a private brunch at The Textile Museum to celebrate the opening of A Lady Found a Culture in its Cloth: Barack Obama’s Mother and Indonesian Batiks.

The museum’s classic marble foyer, overlooking the garden, provided a beautiful setting for guests to mingle and enjoy refreshing white sangria and juice. At noon, as Soetoro-Ng arrived, guests were invited to enter the museum’s elegant Myers Room to see the exhibition and hear remarks. 

Bruce P. Baganz, president of The Textile Museum Board of Trustees, began the program with welcoming remarks, explaining the museum’s mission—to “expand public knowledge and appreciation of the textile arts.” Maryclaire Ramsey, the museum’s new chief executive officer, then took to the podium, saying “Today we celebrate our friendship with Indonesians and a remarkable woman, Ann Dunham, whose pieces we see here in A Lady Found a Culture in its Cloth: Barack Obama’s Mother and Indonesian Batiks.”

Following her remarks, Ramsey introduced Mattiebelle Gittinger, The Textile Museum’s research associate and “the world’s leading scholar on Southeast Asian and South Asian textiles.” Gittinger curated the exhibition and will be honored with the museum’s George Hewitt Myers Award this fall in recognition of her lifetime achievement and exceptional contributions furthering the field of textile arts. Gittinger spoke of Ann Dunham as a woman who deeply understood and appreciated Indonesian culture.

Gittinger then invited Soetoro-Ng to share her personal insight into her mother’s love of batik. Soetoro-Ng said her mother, an anthropologist who lived in Indonesia with her young son Barack Obama in the late 1960s and early 1970s, “would be honored” to see her collection recognized in this way. Soetoro-Ng—who arrived in Washington only two days prior to the event—also expressed her gratitude at the warm welcome her family has received.

To close the event program, a representative of the Cita Tenun Indonesia, the Indonesian Hand-Woven Association, presented Maryclaire Ramsey with a richly colored, 100-year-old Indonesian batik—a beautiful gift for The Textile Museum. Guests then enjoyed a sumptuous brunch while seated in the museum’s elegantly paneled Garrett Room or in the garden, stopping to enjoy a traditional batik demonstration. Following the brunch, the museum—and the exhibition—officially opened to the public.

This event followed a festive gala dinner held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on Saturday, August 8, presented by the Indonesian Embassy and the Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board, and made possible in part by The Textile Museum, the U.S.-Indonesia Society (USINDO), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the USASEAN Business Council and the Asia Society.

The gala event featured the display of the Ann Dunham batik collection as well as traditional Indonesian textiles provided by the Cita Tenun Indonesia, the Indonesian Hand-Woven Association. During the dinner program, guests enjoyed a fashion show by one of the two top young Indonesian designers—Priyo Octaviano—as well as performances of traditional Indonesian dance and an exotic angklung orchestra. A special treat was the saxophone performance of the Indonesian Ambassador himself.

The exhibition A Lady Found a Culture in its Cloth: Barack Obama’s Mother and Indonesian Batiks, will remain on view at The Textile Museum through August 23, 2009.