persimmon

natural dye is one of the most beautiful gifts from mother nature. with it we are able to breathe life and colour into fibers to weave into everyday objects. i remember my first encounter with persimmon dye also known as kaki shibu was at the indigo farm. one of the members, kakuo showed me this jar of 5 year old fermented persimmon juice he made it himself. the first thing he said was 'smelly'. and i looked at him and wondered what was the degree of 'smell' compared to indigo.

in botanical dyes (except for indigo), a mordant like metal can be added to a base dye like kaki shibu to create darker shades.

back then at the indigo farm we were working on our first indigo dyed denim. kakuo wanted to dye the ramie yarn for the button hole with kaki shibu as it helps to strengthen the fiber. he thought the daily interaction between the button hole (kaki shibu) and the button (metal) would gradually darken the yarn and eventually transforming it into another colour. at that moment i felt it was such a beautiful process. i became really fascinated with kaki shibu. the following summer i decided to start picking persimmons to try to ferment them myself. i also started to make my own mordant using rusting iron nails.

i have always love old things or objects that have stood the test of time. it's a pleasure to see things age. and kaki shibu reminds me of this process. most botanical dyes will discolour and fade with the exposure of sunlight, but for kaki shibu it's quite the opposite. it adores the sun. and so do i. the energy of the sun is really uplifting. i believe i fell in love with the idea of seeing the dye transform under the sun, to me it felt like the most natural way of dyeing.

photo: persimmon tree, tokushima japan