Hiroyuki Murase carries on the family tradition of Arimatsu-Narumi shibori technique with the high craft of his label Suzusan.
Suzusan was born in the Japanese town of Arimatsu, located between Tokyo and Kyoto. For over 100 years the Murase family has been creating textiles using the Arimatsu-Narumi shibori technique.
Hiroyuki Murase, the creative director of Suzusan, is the eldest son of the Murase family and a fifth generation artisan. He was taught the art of Arimatsu-Narumi shibori by his father Hiroshi.
Originating in Nagoya, Arimatsu-Narumi shibori is a designated national traditional craft. While Japan has a long history of Shibori tie-dyeing, the artisans of Arimatsu developed and refined the art into a sophisticated, decorative process.
The word shibori comes from the verb “shiboru,” which in Japanese means to wring, press or squeeze. Fittingly, Hiroyuki Murase explains that there are three main steps to the process: tying, stitching and pressing.
For centuries, the Arimatsu-Narumi shibori technique was widely used to dye cotton cloth used for summer kimonos (yukata). Folding, tying off, or sewing parts of the textile’s surface before dyeing it creates unique color gradients, contrasts and in some cases three-dimensional structures.
Any fabric treated in this way will typically pass through four or five artisans. However, the Arimatsu-Narumi shibori industry has been declining due, in part, to changing lifestyles in the region resulting in a decrease in the number of Arimatsu-Narumi shibori methods.
In 1608, more than 10,000 shibori craftsmen and women were employed in the village. By 2008, there were only 200 shibori craftspeople left in Arimatsu. Hiroyuki Murase explains, “My dad said to me, ‘In 15 years, you will not see any craftsmen here if it continues like this. The shibori craft is dying out.’ Whenever a family or craftsman stops, a technique is lost.”
After studying art at the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham, Surrey, and at the Kunstakademie, in Düsseldorf in the early 2000s, Hiroyuki decided he could not stand idly by while an important piece of his family’s heritage fell into obscurity.
In 2008, exactly 400 years after shibori reached the height of its production in Arimatsu, Hiroyuki Murase founded the Suzusan label in Düsseldorf, with the intention of placing Japanese handicraft in a contemporary context.
Executing the technique on precious fabrics in modern silhouettes, Hiroyuki has also encouraged younger generations of artisans to learn and practice this time-honored craft.
“In an age when everything can be made quickly and precisely, people may be attracted to the warmth and value of our products, which take a lot of time and labor to make and may not have a uniform finish.”
