Kamiko Bomber

Daphne Mohajer va Pesaran

& Jake Nakashima-Edwards

Kamiko Bomber

Daphne Mohajer va Pesaran

& Jake Nakashima-Edwards

Australia / RMIT University, Melbourne

This project imagines a future not far from the present, in which we need radical propositions for materials and systems that will reshape the way we produce and consume fashion. Using traditional materials and techniques, we create garments out of Japanese paper in order to ask questions about care, value, place, and use in fashion.

The general tendency of the contemporary fashion industry is to produce items which are standardized — where local idiosyncrasies are erased, and the design or materials do not overtly express sites of production. In many ways, Japanese paper clothing embodies the opposite of this: it is grounded in the landscape, produced in small batches, and, despite the associations we have with paper, not designed for disposability or ephemerality.

Paper may not seem like a suitable material for making clothing, but can be strong and durable if made in a specific way. In Japan, clothing is one of the hundreds of products which have been made out of paper over the centuries, and is called kamiko. Around 910 CE, Japanese Buddhist monks began creating garments out of their paper sutras, spawning a lasting tradition of wearing paper clothing that was later adopted by farmers and the upper classes. Throughout its history, Japanese paper, washi (和紙), has been produced in villages and towns across the Japanese archipelago. From these places, hundreds of local varieties of washi were produced as a result of a contingent relationship between local landscapes and communities.

Kamiko (紙子・紙衣) refers to a garment made of kneaded and coated sheets of paper. Sheets are first treated with various liquids or pastes, such as konnyaku (starch from the devil’s tongue root, to keep the paper from fluffing and make it water-resistant), agar agar, kakishibu (fermented persimmon tannin) or oils (including perilla, walnut, tung, linseed, poppyseed). Written records of the use of konnyaku  paste as a finish date back to 18th-century domestic handbooks. Treated sheets are then kneaded until they become soft and resemble the hand and behavior of conventional fabric. These sheets are then attached to form a bolt of cloth, which is cut and stitched together to construct a garment mostly using conventional sewing methods. While it seems counter-intuitive to use non-woven sheets of paper in the place of traditional woven textiles, washi made during the 18th century (when the number of local varieties was at its peak) was so strong that it could be used as rainwear and for firefighters uniforms after being treated with oils and tannins. This kind of clothing was very warm, and typically worn by monks, the lower classes, and farmers, but by the late 17th century, delicately printed and dyed versions were available for the upper and middle classes. Over the course of many years, these paper garments were replaced with cotton, wool, and ultimately polyester and nylon.

What role can paper garments such as these play in the critical discourse around fashion? They help us reveal aspects of how we wear and care for garments; they help us ask questions about aesthetic and intersubjective durability as well as provenance. As practitioners, we aim to produce garments that combine an aesthetics of wear with an aesthetics of care — in other words, a garment that looks good and fits well, and that also encourages the wearer to consider the origin of the materials from which it is produced, and also how they wear and care for the garment on and off their bodies.

Bio: Daphne Mohajer Va Pesaran and Jake Nakashima-Edwards

Daphne Mohajer va Pesaran:

website: www.d-mvp.com

email: daphne.mohajer.va.pesaran@rmit.edu.au

social: @daphne_mvp

I lecture in fashion design and research in The School of Fashion and Textiles at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. I like collaborating, and am interested in what materials and relationships can emerge in communities of human and nonhuman people. In my research and design practice I work with handmade Japanese paper and garments/products made from paper. I also work in storytelling and documentation in various formats including film, drawing, text, audio, etc. and am currently undertaking research fellowships for the British Museum and the Australian Museum to research the use of paper for clothing in Japan and the Pacific Islands.

Jake Nakashima-Edwards:

email: jake.naka@gmail.com

social: @smiling.at.dogs

I am a recent graduate of the Fashion Design program at RMIT University, based in Naarm (Melbourne), Australia. I am interested in how fashion intersects with politics, capital, and the environment. My current practice is centred around washi paper as a textile, and the connections this material has with people, culture, and nature.