Junichi Arai

"Having transcended mere fabric design, Junichi Arai now poetically navigates the uncharted stratospheres between ancient and 3rd Millennium technologies. He is, in short, that rare bird—a Post Industrial Craftsman…"

Jack Lenor Larsen

Although this man has single handedly changed the shape of textiles in the late 20th century, his name is unknown to most Americans. As the source of fabrics used by Comme des Garçons and Issey Miyake in the 70s and 80s, Junichi Arai's influence on fashion has been enormous. Likewise, many interior and textile designers are deeply inspired by his limitless capacity to rethink the possibilities of fabrics. Arai is often celebrated for his ability to almost metamorphose textiles into other materials - one fabric may glimmer as if it was a rock with mica particles or imitate the intricate gauze of a spider web or the fractures of cracked ice.

Technically, he has contributed to the world of textile design by expanding the potential of a jacquard loom through the creation of fabrics with totally different patterns on each side of four layered cloths. He has also explored reflective surfaces of metallic or pearlescent slit-yarn; developed new interpretations of age-old techniques such as ikat and tie-dye; and exploited the thermoplastic memories of synthetic fibers to give flat fabrics a third dimension. Arai holds patents on 36

processes. His work is collected by many major museums around the world including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Museum of Modern Art and Museum of Art and Design (formerly the American Craft Museum). In 1987, he was awarded the title of Honorable Royal Designer for Industry by the British Royal Society of Arts.

Arai was born in 1932 in Kiryu, a city that has been an important center for textile production for 400 years. As the sixth generation of a mill-owning family, Arai grew up amid the clacking and clanging of looms weaving fabrics for obis and kimonos. He maintains a deep reverence for traditional weaving techniques and the capabilities that only the hand can provide in the craft of making fabrics. Even today, Arai takes a traditional approach with his company by employing local craftspeople to help create his work.

Yet, from an early age, Arai was experimenting with new technologies to further his art. In 1955, using the traditional methods of weaving gold and silver lamé so popular in obi textiles, he developed a new metal thread and weaving technology. Arai is credited as having introduced the computer into the craft of traditional jacquard textile design in 1979. He developed a high-tech yarn to create "macro-gauze" which looks like silk but is woven from stainless steel microfilaments.

For more information check out the book Structure and Surface: Contemporary Japanese Textiles published by the Museum of Modern Art, New York or go to www.moma.org/exhibitions/1998/textiles/home.html