DNJ Paper
DNJ Paper – 'Devil's Tongue', 2023
One of five collectible paper coats. Devil's Tongue was produced using hand-made Japanese traditional paper cloth. The coat is lined using an antique indigo-dyed silk kimono, which would have been very difficult to dye to its black colour.
This style of wrinkled and treated paper is made in the traditional method of making paper cloth, and was produced in Kurotani. This black paper cloth has been treated with konnyaku jelly, which makes it durable and offers some water wicking capabilities.
Though papermaking began in Kurotani at the end of the Heike period (1185 CE) by fugitive warriors, and at its peak there were many papermakers, there is only one papermaking workshop left in the village. The remaining workshop is a co-operative with communal making facilities and training programs.
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DNJ PAPER is a collaborative research project and fashion brand. Designers Daphne Mohajer va Pesaran and Jake Nakashima-Edwards use handmade Japanese paper (washi), made from the bark of the Paper Mulberry tree (Broussonetia Papyrifera) in small studios across Japan, to wearable items.
The designers use washi in traditional and nontraditional ways of making paper clothing in response to pressing social, aesthetic and conceptual questions emerging from contemporary fashion practice. These pieces are never "finished" and will change over time – let them wear, then be repaired.
DNJ PAPER was awarded the 2023 Uniform Commission for MPavillion 10, and exhibited at Australian Tapestry Workshop in 2023.
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Kamiko: Five Paper Coats
September 14- October 28
Material: Paper cloth, Konnyaku, rayon, linen, indigo, silk Lining: black indigo-dyed silk kimono
Colour: Black
Papermaker: Kurotani Washi Cooperative, Kurotani, Kyoto, Japan
Pulp: 100% kōzo (paper mulberry), China
Paper GSM: 91.1
Care: Dryclean only
Dimensions:
