Shiboru in Japanese means “to wring, squeeze, press.” Although shibori used to be designated as a particular group of resist- dyed textiles, the verb root of the word emphasizes the action performed on cloth, the process of manipulating fabric. Rather than treating cloth as a two-dimensional surface, with shibori it is given a three-dimensional form by folding, crumpling,stitching, plaiting, or plucking and twisting.
-Shibori Textile Museum

Everywhere I turned this summer, Brooklyn based design studio Eskayel was featured, from apartment therapy, to House Beautiful and Lonny. Artist Shanan Campanaro’s unusual abstract patterns drawn from her paintings and then digitally manipulated and expanded as wallpaper and fabric are utterly riveting. I received numerous emails from friends and readers who also had noticed it in the press and wanted to alert me to its beauty.

While her textiles and papers are not in any way shibori (tie-dye) related, every time I looked at them, I couldn’t help but be reminded of it.

Perhaps it is the rich indigo blue colorways?

Or the Rorschach quality the patterns share with shibori?

Here are two classic shibori patterns, tegumo and hinode for comparison with the pillows above. Are you feeling it too?

Even this Galileo basket feels Japanese in shape and nature.

If you are loving her patterns but not interested in indigo, be sure to check out the full website as there are other gorgeous colors and designs.

Last June, the design team at Anthropologie, fascinated by an antique piece of Japanese cloth, traveled to Kyoto in search of more information and inspiration. The result was their “Arimatsu” bedding line.  The history of Arimatsu, a town known as the center of shibori, dates back to 1608 and it has been a dyeing center ever since.

A room view of the bedding from the catalog.

You know me, I cannot ever resist an interesting lamp shade. This Arashi shade has classic shibori details. Love the pleating too! Hmmm…where could I use it?

Shibori is not Anthro’s only inspiration. Their Nightbloom bedding series is based on a few Japanese motifs. The central medallions are stylized chrysanthemums, the kamon of the emperor. And the circular pattern is a complicated version of shippou-tsunagi (seven treasures pattern), just recently shown here.

The sheet set reverses the colorway.

The bolsters would make a great accent anywhere.

This spliced shibori throw pillow is both dyed and pleated.

And this long thin swatch bolster has to be my favorite. It is a little smörgåsbord of everything.

Hey my quilting friends, doesn’t it make you want to gather our yukata fabric scraps and make some pillows?

Related Post: Feeling Fresh…Indigo Textiles and Tenugui