My primary material used is silk. The material arrives in the studio a blank canvas.  Each piece is cut and sewn into a specific shape, textured and dyed.

 

This texturing is created through the century old method of arashi shibori, developed in Arimatsu, Japan. Cloth is bound with thread around a pipe then exposed to dye or dye remover. The result is an irregular pattern of lines, like the driving rain.

The jackets are designed through a process of drawing, draping, pattern making and construction.  I spend many hours trimming and tracing the lines of each piece.  Like shibori, it is a process through which original shape is formed.  My current work uses gold leaf permanently adhered to the surface of the cloth.