If you have even the slightest interest in all things textile, the first thing you do after you step off the plane in Japan is make a beeline for the Nuno store. It’s a treasure trove of cutting-edge fabrics designed by Reiko Sudo, the creative mastermind (and all-around warm and generous person) who has spent her career innovating one astounding feat of textile magic after another.
The moment you step into the shop, I guarantee your first question will be, “How the heckin’ heck did they make that?”
And now—for the first time ever—you can find out the answers!
Sudo Reiko: Making Nuno Textiles at the Art Tower Mito isn’t just a retrospective of her stunning fabrics…
it’s a thoughtfully designed exhibition about what inspires her…
and exactly how these baffling textiles are made.
Admit it—you’ve always wondered how they make those crazy fabrics with the intricate pleated patterns that snap right back after you wash them!
For each family of innovative fabrics, the process from original artist sketch to finished piece is presented in pleasing detail…
and not only can you touch every single sample (how rare and wonderful is that?) you can lift each one to reveal more information, in both Japanese and English.
As an extra treat, the manufacturing of each family of fabrics is communicated through the best use of video I’ve ever seen at a museum—the raw materials and finished pieces are joined by worker point-of-view footage that shows what happens as one turns into the other.
Rarely seen machines illustrate the process better than any wordy explanation…
and the screening room at the end ties it all together with skillfully-edited videos that showcase the actual manufacturing process at the twenty-six artisan workshops that make Nuno fabrics all over Japan.
This was chosen to be the very first exhibition at the Art Tower Mito, a spanking new cultural center in Mito City that’s designed to showcase everything from art to music. It’s just over an hour from Ueno Station, and judging by how spectacularly it showcased Sudo-san’s work, I think this is a jaunt I’ll be making a lot.
If you’d like to see the mind-boggling techniques used to make Nuno fabrics, sign up to get next month’s Japanagram—it will be “The Thing I Learned Today” feature that comes out May 1, 2024!
Japanagram is my free monthly e-magazine, a deeper dive into everything from travel to food to baffling Japanese culture. It’ll arrives by email on the first of every month.
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About this exhibition:
Sudo Reiko: Making Nuno Textiles
Where: Art Tower Mito
1 Chome-6-8 Gokencho, Mito, Ibaraki 310-0063
Dates: April 17 – May 6, 2024
Open: Every day except closed Mondays
Hours: 9:30 – 18:00
Admission: ¥900
Only In Japan 
Thank you so much for introducing me to the world of Reiko Sudo.
I sew most everything from clothes to bags to quilts. Her fabrics and aesthetic really resonate with me as I love to do indigo dyeing.
I love your blog and hope to visit Japan someday.
Thank you so much for introducing me to the world of Reiko Sudo.
I sew most everything from clothes to bags to quilts. Her fabrics and aesthetic really resonate with me as I love to do indigo dyeing.
I love your blog and hope to visit Japan someday.
Claudia, what a great pleasure it is to meet you! And what a coincidence—I also sew and I used to do indigo dyeing! What kind do you do? Can I see your work (sewing and/or dyeing!) somewhere? (I have been tempted by the siren call of quilting but then I went to this quilt show https://jonellepatrick.me/2016/01/28/tokyo-quilt-show-international-2016/ and knew it for the rabbit hole that would swallow me whole and ensure I never wrote another book…)
Wow, just . . . wow! Thanks for explaining and showing how Reiko Sudo does her amazing textile art. Even more than ever, I can’t wait for my next visit to Japan! So glad we met . . .
Thank you Phyllis! I’m just sorry you weren’t here to see this for yourself—I thought of you and ReAnn while I was there, and ever since we met, have been thinking about how many great fabric-centric things there are to see here. Come back soon!