Yasuaki Kuroda

Name: Yasuaki Kuroda

Studio location: Shibuya, Tokyo

Website / social links: yasuakikuroda.com, @yasuaki_kuroda

Loom type or tool preference: 16 shaft Louet Megado Loom

Years weaving: 14

Fiber inclination: naturally dyed silk threads

Contact information for commissions and collaborations: email address

 

 

1. How did you discover weaving and was what your greatest resource as a beginner?

I had enrolled into the department of industrial, interior and craft design at the art university from where I graduated.  We were required to pick our major from ceramic, wood, textile, metal, glass, interior and industrial by the second semester of the second year.  I considered each major but could not decide which one truly called out to me, so I ended up creating a ghost leg, and letting the fate decide my future major.  The result, textile.

Because of this, I did not know much regarding textiles during the initial phase of majoring in textiles.  As a child, I always loved and savoured reading a variety of books on so many different topics. I remember the words “織る” (o-ru) appearing in so many books, even though it had nothing to do with weaving and textile. For these words, I remember being curious about what the differences and the commonalities were.  Reflecting over the past and my childhood, I think it was this curiosity that became the source of my interest in Textile.  As time goes by, my curiosity and interest in the weaves between the word (text) and Textile (weaving) grew, matured and developed into the Knot. From here, I have been mastering my textile art projects for 14 years.

On a side note:

Ghost leg is a popular children’s game in Japan, and it can be made very complex or simple. The shape of a Ghost leg resembles, in a way, a spider’s web. The format of ghost leg appears almost like a textile. 

Perhaps, subconsciously, I was aware of the complexity and philosophical nature of weaving and textile.  The Greek mythology protagonist, Arachne, is an ethymology of a spider.  In the Roman poet Ovid (43 BCE–17 CE)’s poetry book, “Metamorphosis” Arachne was a highly skilled weaver, who challenged Athena, the goddess of wisdom and craft.  Athena was very jealous of the flawless tapestry which mortal Arachne made, and later on, her appearance was changed to a spider.

2. How do you define your practice – do you consider yourself an artist / craftsperson / weaver / designer / general creative or a combination of those? Is this definition important to you?

I consider myself as the medium I weave, and therefore I am the artist.  I observe and discover the intricate nature of universe through the weaving, and through the act of weaving and textile, I become part of the whole. The origin of text (as a sentence) was Latin, texere (weaving), textile was a language system for communicating and recording events before the development of words and sentences. Although we tend to define and identify ourselves through our words and language today, textile was used as language during the pre-linguistic developmental era.

There is no “right” or “superior” distinction/ differentiation between the expression by textile or expression by words: the textile provides the different perspectives, and recognise alternative view points from our language and words.  I exist as a medium and knot together between the language and textile.  I am an artist, by interpreting the textile into words through my project.

3. Describe your first experience with weaving.

During the first year of Textile Major practical classes, I was taught the initial set-up and the foundation of weaving.  At this time, since I had only started learning about the art of textile and weaving, I was curious and interested more in the structure, restrictions and limitations of the loom, rather than the textile itself.   When there was an assignment that gave me a greater degree of “freedom” during the creation of a textile, my main focus became to bypass the restriction and limitations of a traditional loom. I developed a different kind of weaving equipment which resulted in a unique textile. This experience gave me a crucial transition from creating a “fabric” as a final product to textile itself as my style of art.

4. What is your creative process, from the initial idea to the finished piece? Are there specific weave structures, looms, or fibers that are important to your process?

There are no predefined designs or set destinations in my creation.  The process of creation has a similarity with the “Ghost Legs” (which I decided to use when I chose my major during the undergraduate university era), that everything is the result of my decision at that point in time.  In order to create a project, I have several hundred naturally dyed silk threads prepared in my studio, arranging warp, picking and choosing the weft.  By completion of the project, the numbers of decisions involved, are, thousands to tens of thousands.

It may seem that I am the subject and the sole authority of my creation, however, it is not only me who chooses the threads. The Threads themselves are the choice I make.  I am the subject of the thread, but the thread is also a subject that operates within me. Like a human evolves due to the choice of words he or she makes, the choices that we make shape today’s me and you.  Like ‘Me’ is a record of the choices I made, what appears in this textile made of thousands of threads is what I am.  

Textile is a constellation of the choices I made. Since there is no pre-defined design and set destination; for example that is including what time I woke up in the morning and what I ate for the day.  The decision I made influenced the colour of the thread I chose.  A thread contains unique essence, memories and the trace from the silkworms, plants and trees, the soil, water and air that have nurtured all of them.  It means that the single thread carries and passes the tremendous number of choices and history they carried.

As the choice of words we use to communicate differs and forms the personal identity between individuals, we are the constellation and the products of the choice we make.  The process of weaving I create and expression itself is myself, therefore the textile is me.  Same time, the thread (silkworms, trees, soil, water, air, time, memory and choice) has individually unique text, and we are marrying our text into ourselves, and textile into the text.

In my textile, thread and the textile are not separate entities and existence.  I am the thread, and threads are me.  I am, threads are, us.  It is the daily practice of dialogue.

 5. Does your work have a conceptual purpose or greater meaning? If so, do you center your making around these concepts?

As the origin of the text (as a sentence) was Latin, texere (weaving).  The oldest letter (character) recorded is approximately 5,000 years ago, and the oldest existing textile created by using a tool was estimated at 10,000 years ago. It means that the textile was, by 5000 years, the foundation of a language system for communicating and recording events well before the development of words and sentences.

The act of creating a textile is based on the conversion of the binary process, 0 and 1. The dialogue made with natural thread becomes binary within the weaving. The process starts with the primordial split, at the same time, the practice of The Union, weaving, brings opposites together.

Describing myself as I [A] and thread as [B] is a very anthropocentric perspective in the world dominated by words.  In the textile, the threads (us) are 0, and at the same time we are 1. There is always a personal preference in the “right” or “wrong” side of the fabric, but there is no absolute “correct” or “incorrect” perspective in the textile.

The weaving proposes the perspectives that are not bound by the dichotomy, such as “self/other”, “subject/object”, “natural/artificial”, but in fact “us = world”.  It is a fundamental nexus for us to exist in the world (=being) and at the same time us becoming the world.

I envision the endless potential within the textile, weave with textile, create with textile, and co-exist with textile.

 

6. What is your favorite part of the weaving process and why? What’s your least favorite?

I enjoy and love every weaving process since the creation process makes me feel spiritually elevated. At the same time, the same weaving processes can be a dread and heavy-hearted.

7. Do you sell your work or make a living from weaving? If so, what does that look like and how has that affected your studio practice?

Yes – I make a living from the textile arts I have created.  

I mainly use Instagram as the main platform within social media as well as doing exhibitions through the galleries who express their interests in my art in Japan and overseas. 

Individuals who expressed their interests in my art can be viewed and purchased by appointment. 

I experienced that there is more demand in the overseas rather than domestic (Japanese) market through the responses from social media.  The main issue I am currently facing is shipping my work overseas. Due to the physical size of the work, it can be very costly and logistically difficult to transport the work to the gallery and exhibitions. The methods produced for mounting my work are very uniquely calculated, selected and created. Therefore, simply transporting the textile itself I created will not represent my whole work.  It is also impossible to transport my loom overseas, so I will need to consider the method of transport and exhibitions in the future.

8. Where do you find inspiration?

Many of my inspirations are from the sentences and words.  They come from technical journal articles, philosophy literature, and various (classical and contemporary) novels.  

The Japanese language uses many Chinese characters (called kanji):  Kanji consists of various parts.  There are many Kanji contain “糸” (thread) as a part of a word, such as “絵” (drawing/ picture), “紙“ (paper), “縁“ (connection/ relationship), “総“ (whole).  The words give me so many opportunities to contemplate and examine the history of textile and weaving that exist in the past, present and future as well as relationships, connections, associations and history which involves and evolves with thread. Therefore, a thread is a part of a whole, and a thread is an origin or the catalyst of metamorphosis.

9. If you could no longer weave, what would you do instead?

If and when I am no longer able to weave, I would like to spread the wisdom that textile and weaving has taught me in past, present and future.  Perhaps, that is the time and moment in which textile becomes text.