My fascination with textiles started as a young girl growing up in a small mountain village in the north part of Sweden. My mother, who is a seamstress and weaver, always had different textile projects in the making and I loved watching her create. After primary school I studied clothing design and pattern design for three years. A few years later, I applied to HV Skola and entered a new world of textile. For three years I learned weaving and embroidery and fell in love with the craftsmanship. I graduated from HV Skola in the spring of 2015 and was granted a scholarship to go to Kawashima Textile School.
My arrival in Japan was something I had dreamed of. Just walking down an ordinary street was something totally different from anything I had experienced. The architecture, the colors, and the close feeling to nature gave me so much joy and creative energy.
At Kawashima I had the pleasure of meeting fantastic teachers as well as students that made my stay very joyful. It was very interesting to learn the Japanese way of weaving and work with kasuri. Kasuri was for me a new way of working and I am so happy to have that with me. The differences between the way I learned weaving at HV school to the way at Kawashima was mostly in the little things. Learning a new way of doing something that you are so used to was harder than I thought. After my stay at Kawashima, I find myself combining the HV style and Kawashima style of weaving, figuring out my own way.
When I look back at my stay, it is filled with love. All the amazing people I met, the Japanese culture that I am so happy I got to be a part of for a few months, and of course all the fantastic textiles I saw in the journey. So much inspiration to take back to Sweden and continue working at my loom.
Days Spent
In this piece I wanted to capture the time that I spent in Japan. My memories from traveling around the country are all strong and filled with colors. During my time at Kawashima Textile School, I really loved working with kasuri and especially fell for the simplicity that kasuri can convey. That simplicity suits me, making it look easier then it actually is.
Nanny Rådenman (Sweden)
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Nanny was an exchange student from HV Skola (Sweden) and studied in the Foundation Kasuri Course and Applied Kasuri Course I to III in autumn 2015.
