Hiroto Ikebe　MAYUGOMORI / Clothed in cocoon

FFP2024

Clothed in cocoon

Beginning in the 3rd century and once a cornerstone of Japan’s modernization, sericulture is now on a path of steady decline. In the past, people read the land and environment, imagining the senses of living organisms and nature as they spun thread and created the structures of fabric. While sericulture holds a deep repository of memories, modern society has largely lost the opportunity to engage in dialogue with nature or to experience the perspective of living organisms.

This project aims to bring new perspectives and value to the declining culture of sericulture. By decoding and reinterpreting its ancient presence, we have created a new production process that combines traditional, land-rooted techniques with cutting-edge technology, ensuring no waste is generated from cocoon to garment. Through these works, we visualize the increasingly complex relationships between materials and producers caused by industrialization, aiming to restore understanding of the production process and revive the fading memories of sericulture culture.

　　Material：Raw silk

　　Photography by YASUNARI KIKUMA / ©︎ FASHION FRONTIER PROGRAM

FFP2023

MAYUGOMORI

Sericulture has long supported the lives of Japanese people since ancient times.

In the past, women imagined the sensations of the silkworm, an insect, and functioned their own bodies as a medium for sensing them, extending their senses to the state of the silkworm’s body.

This is communication that takes place through the bodily sensations of the organisms of man and silkworm, and such sensations are diverging from ours today.

This project visualises the relationship and context of the product with the ‘material’ and the ‘producer’ that emerges from such communication and, in the same way, it seeks to regain an understanding of the manufacturing process of textile products that has been obscured by the industrialisation of mass production. The aim of the project was to regenerate the memory of the declining sericultural culture by regaining an understanding of the manufacturing process of textile products, which has been obscured by industrialisation for mass production.

　The project aimed to transform the production process from silk waste to new materials by combining the latest technology with techniques rooted in the land and born from the wisdom of life, from material development to completion within the local community, with the aim of not only reducing environmental impact but also having a positive impact on the surrounding environment. The process was carried out in an integrated manner within the local community.

　　Material：pseudo-hide cocoons (silk waste) 　

　　Production cooperation：Mayuya Ltd.

Hiroto Ikebe

E-mail：ikebeh84@gmail.com

Instagram：@be_be._555