Special Experience
Kyoto
Experience Traditional and Innovative Textile Dyeing with an Eminent Kyoto Dyer Featured in Paris Fashion Week
Overview
Art Uni is a dyer’s studio tucked away in a sleepy residential area of Kyoto’s Ukyo Ward. It is also a powerhouse of high-brand fashion textile production, with pieces featuring in the Paris Fashion Week collection, acclaimed for its unique and innovative dyeing techniques and sensibilities inspired by Kyoto craft traditions. Working with titans of the industry, Art Uni fields orders that influence the ebb and flow of the fashion world itself. In this Wabunka experience, visitors can tour the studio, witness master dyers at work, and create a one-of-kind piece of fashion with the studio’s ryusai-zome techniques.
Key Features
・Visit the production site of luxury high-brand designer textiles featured in such places as the Paris Fashion Week collection
・Watch master dyer Nishida demonstrate his original tegaki-zome (“hand-drawn dyeing”) and bokashi-zome (“gradation dyeing”) techniques up-close in person
・Experience performing Nishida’s own ryusai-zome (“flow-dyeing”) yourself, and create your own unique article of clothing to keep in the process – either by bringing your own white or similarly-colored article of clothing on the day, or purchasing a t-shirt or shawl, high-top tabi-style sneakers on site
Kyoto
from
¥47,000 /person
1 - 10 participants
120mins
Available in English
Cancel free up to 4 days before
* If fewer than 2 participants, the minimum fee will be JPY 94,000
Details
The Colors of High Fashion
A stone’s throw from Arashiyama’s famed groves of soaring bamboo, ensconced in a quiet residential neighborhood of Eastern Kyoto sits the visually unassuming dyer’s studio called Art Uni. Visitors from across Japan come to experience innovative dyeing techniques drawing upon Kyoto craft tradition. Kiyoshi Nishida, the master dyer behind this operation, has recently achieved a degree of fame with the general public through TV and other media spots – though he was already a major player in the high fashion industry itself.
With the space-efficiency and order-in-chaos methodology which Japan’s small-to-medium-size manufacturing industry is famous for, Art Uni packs not only an incredible level of production quality into the compact building where it does its dyeing, but an astounding variety of tools, techniques, and capabilities – from traditional silk-screening to its original tegaki-zome and ryusai-zome methods which use hand-brushing and submersion dyeing, respectively. “If there’s one thing I want visitors to take away from a stop here,” jokes Nishida with a gruff chuckle, “it’s that fancy high fashion gets produced in gritty little old places like this.”
“We’ve drawn a lot of influence from the techniques of Kyoto’s suminagashi traditions,” says Nishida, referring to the ancient East Asian art of decorating paper stationary with an aqueous charcoal solution. “I guess ryusai-zome is not far off from what’s referred to as ‘marbling’ overseas, but our specific designs tend to emphasize subtlety through understated color, which makes them evocative of Kyoto and Japanese aesthetics.” Getting to learn and experience using these techniques for yourself under expert guidance – and have your creation to keep – is likely to be a highlight of your whole trip.
Inside the Dyer’s Studio
There is something magical about stepping inside an artisanal workshop full of people who love their craft. Maybe it’s the atmosphere of authenticity that comes from seeing all the tools and materials up close in their natural habitat. Maybe it’s the singular feeling of focus, of the whole space and everyone and everything in it sharing a unified purpose. Whatever it is, for those who appreciate this feeling, Art Uni is a veritable temple of creative energy.
“This trade is exactly fifty percent based on a rigorous understanding of the equipment and materials, and fifty percent on the intangible sensibilities and inspiration of the people doing it,” says Nishida, and that fascinating juxtaposition of science and art really comes across as you tour the facility, talk to the professionals who work there, and take in the sights and sounds and smells of all the gear and textiles in production.
An Up-Close Look at the Original Craftwork Behind Paris Fashion Week
Art Uni has handled dye orders for some of the biggest names there are in the fashion world, including pieces featured in the Paris Fashion Week collection. There’s a decent chance you might walk past such pieces hanging above his production floor awaiting their catwalk debuts – our coverage team did, though for obvious reasons we cannot show or name them here. And that’s only a small part of what makes a visit to the studio such an exclusive glimpse behind the curtain. For those with an interest in luxury fashion or its industry, this is a can’t-miss.
What might be even more impressive is watching Nishida himself at work, demonstrating his bokashi-zome (“gradation dyeing”) and tegaki-zome (“hand-drawn dyeing”) up close in person. If you’ve ever been lucky enough to watch a master artist create right before your eyes, you might already know that goosebumps-and-chills feeling of seeing something amazing materialize seemingly out of thin air, where the artist seems more like a conduit channeling visions from another world than a person consciously following the steps of a process. And if you haven’t – well, let Nishida demonstrate what he can do with a brush and a piece of white fabric in mere minutes, and you will.
The Experience of Becoming a Ryusai-zome Flow-dye Artist Yourself — if Only for a Day
When you’ve had your fill of observation, get hands-on with the craft of dyeing yourself. Guests can bring any article of clothing they wish to dye, though color takes and sets differently depending on the characteristics of the clothing in question.
Pure whites take color best, with lighter beiges and greys also suitable — although they will lend their own tint to the finished color. Fully fabric pieces are ideal. Bits of rubber, leather, or metal will either not take dye at all, or else absorb it only faintly. Thicker fabrics or clothing with many layers or folds like jackets are most complicated to dye, and take the longest time to set.
“As long as you understand the challenges and potential pitfalls of what you’re working with, we welcome a try at any article of clothing,” says Koshimoto, noting that they have dyed everything from t-shirts to hoodies to sneakers for visitors from across Japan drawn to the studio by its television fame. For an additional fee, guests may also choose to have Art Uni prepare a white shawl, t-shirt, or high-top tabi-style sneakers for them on-site instead of bringing their own article of clothing.
No matter what you opt for, A professional dyer from the Art Uni staff is by your side for every step of the process from choosing colors to preparing the various solutions and workstations involved, and providing expert guidance on the actual dyeing techniques. Just relax and let your creativity flow, having fun with the process.
A Rare Chance to Experience Textile Production – and the Fashion Industry as Never Before
When your work has been dyed, hand it off to an Art Uni professional for final processing and to take its place at the drying station. Guests dyeing simpler items like shawls, bandanas, handkerchiefs, or light t-shirts who plan to be in or pass through the area later in the same day or the next are welcome to pick up their completed pieces and take them with them after they are dried. For more complex articles of clothing or for guests who do not plan to return to Art Uni, finished pieces will be shipped after they are ready.
Witnessing your creative vision take shape, giving life to previously unremarkable plain cloth through high-level original artisanal techniques that draw on traditional Kyoto artforms, is the perfect culmination of this delightful foray into the inner workings of the world of high fashion textile manufacturing and processing. Woven into the rich tapestry of Kyoto’s historical, cultural, and natural landscapes – right around the corner from Arashiyama’s bamboo groves and the gorgeous wooden temple of Koryuji – Art Uni is sure to be an unexpected discovery you’ll remember for years to come.
Art Uni
Art Uni
Helmed by master dyer Kiyoshi Nishida whose work has featured in the Paris Fashion Week Collection, Art Uni is a textile studio sought out by the biggest houses of fashion design. It fields orders of such magnitude that it’s fair to say some of next year’s trends are being made right here today. After spots on TV, Art Uni has also become a popular destination for visitors hoping to take home their own unique custom textile.
Location
Art Uni
Ukyo Ward, Kyoto
Request for booking
* Required
December 2024
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17
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If your first choice is not available, we will confirm your booking based on your other preferred dates and times.
Additional Options
To purchase a shawl to dye on-site, please select this option.
Purchase Shawl for Dyeing / person
JPY 4,000
0
To purchase a t-shirt to dye on-site, please select this option.
Purchase T-shirt for Dyeing / person
JPY 4,000
0
To purchase high-top tabi-style sneakers to dye on-site, please select this option.
Purchase high-top tabi-style sneakers for Dyeing / person
JPY 13,500
0
Experience fee
Minimum fee JPY 47000 × 2 participants
JPY 94,000
*Minimum: 2 participants; JPY 47,000 × 2 will be charged for bookings below the minimum.
Price may change after date is selected.
Additional options fee
Interpretation in English
JPY 0
Other
Service fee (5%)
JPY 4,700
Total Price
JPY 98,700
tax & service fee incl.
Extra charges may apply for the following
- ・Interpretation / Dependant on experience schedule and language
- ・Optional add-ons / Souvenirs, delivery, etc.
Kyoto
from
¥47,000 /person
1 - 10 participants
120mins
Available in English
Cancel free up to 4 days before
* If fewer than 2 participants, the minimum fee will be JPY 94,000
Things to know
Contact Us
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We also accept bookings from corporate clients and travel agencies.