Traditional Textile Design for Social Innovation Toward Sustainability in Japan

Introduction Production of traditional textiles by local communities often tends to become too traditional and old-fashioned separating from our lives and social life. However they are made of natural materials in safe and good quality, so-called earth-friendly materials. Reexamining such traditional textiles are going to be significant for the sustainable life and society in our times and in the future because they contain aspects both old and new, past and future, and tradition and innovation. In 1954, the Japanese government established a law of Cultural Properties Protection including intangible cultural properties such as traditional textile technologies. According to Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan, definition of intangible cultural properties is the following: It refers to stage arts, music, craft techniques, and other intangible cultural assets that possess high historic or artistic value for Japan. Intangible Cultural Properties consist of human " technical artistry " which is embodied by individuals or groups of individuals who represent the highest mastery of the techniques concerned. The national government designates especially significant Intangible Cultural Properties as " Important Intangible Cultural Properties " while simultaneously recognizing individuals or groups that have achieved advanced mastery of the pertinent technique as the holder or holders of that Important Intangible Cultural Property so as to ensure the transmission of traditional artistry. Recognition of holders may take one of three forms: individual recognition, collective recognition, or group recognition 2. I had worked as a textile conservator 3 and a researcher for intangible cultural properties such as textile techniques 4 as well as a museum curator of textiles 5. I used to visit local communities in order to research and to make documentation and to preserve traditional textile techniques. Protecting people who is holding traditional techniques by the government is of course valuable, but their current activities seem to be identified as cultural heritage and museum collections. Nowadays, their achievements have not enough reflected on our fashion and lifestyles at all. In addition, the young generation has no conscious interest in those traditional activities at all. Without cooperation of the young, it is obvious to be difficult that we will firmly hand over the tradition to the future generation and so traditional matters must be an inseparable part of our daily lives engaging their attention. In this paper, I will explore to reexamine traditional textiles in Japan and to translate them in order to design new ideas and products for …