The Ohara Museum of Art is one of the leading art museums in Kurashiki City and Okayama Prefecture.
As well as viewing the artworks, you can visit the Museum Shop next to the Ohara Museum of Art, where you can buy goods inspired by works in its collection.
The goods are all designed to bring art into your everyday life.
The Ohara Museum of Art Museum Shop has now begun selling a new item: the Denim Painting Jacquard Mat.
It looks like a real painting, but is not one, and is a new product that can be used in all kinds of settings around the home.
It was created through a collaboration between the Ohara Museum of Art Museum Shop and Aoki Hifuku Co., Ltd.
What kind of product is it?
We spoke with Mika Nakayama, manager of the Ohara Museum of Art Museum Shop, about how the product came about and the care that went into making it.
The Denim Painting Jacquard Mat has sold out and is no longer available.
The information provided was current when this article was published in July 2022. Please note that it may differ from current information.
About the Ohara Museum of Art Museum Shop
As its name suggests, the Ohara Museum of Art Museum Shop is a store attached to the Ohara Museum of Art.
It sells goods inspired by works in the Ohara Museum of Art’s collection, as well as art books.
There are many items that let you bring art into your everyday life, making it a great place to buy souvenirs when visiting Kurashiki.
▼For more details, see the article below.
About Aoki Hifuku
Aoki Hifuku, headquartered in Ibara City, Okayama Prefecture, is a company that makes and sells clothing and other lifestyle products, primarily from denim fabric.
The company began producing denim products and uniforms to order in 1961, and expanded its own factories in Japan and overseas in the 1970s.
Aoki Hifuku currently has four in-house brands, including FAGASSENT, launched in 2010.
Its craftsmanship and design are highly regarded around the world, and the company has even presented menswear collections in Paris, France, and Milan, Italy.
Denim products made in Ibara City are affectionately known as “Ibara Denim,” and one of the brands that helped make the name known around the world is Aoki Hifuku’s.
In Kurashiki, there are two physical stores: Aoki Hifuku Kurashiki Main Store and Aoki Hifuku Kurashiki SOLA Store.
Each store and brand also has an online shop, so be sure to check out Aoki Hifuku’s products, which are a source of pride around the world.
The new product: the Denim Painting Jacquard Mat
The Denim Painting Jacquard Mat was created through a collaboration between the Ohara Museum of Art Museum Shop and Aoki Hifuku.
As a new product from the Ohara Museum of Art Museum Shop, it has been sold exclusively at the physical store since April 2022.
As its name suggests, the Denim Painting Jacquard Mat is made using jacquard weaving.
Jacquard weaving is a method of weaving that creates patterns through combinations of warp and weft threads.
While printed fabric, with designs printed directly onto the material, is common these days, jacquard fabric is designed using the colors of the fibers themselves, making it a time-consuming and labor-intensive process.
Jacquard denim is a three-dimensional material woven using jacquard techniques with the fine yet sturdy, thick threads used in denim.
When you touch it, you can feel its thickness and tell that the threads have been woven in multiple layers.
According to Nakayama from the Museum Shop, jacquard looms themselves are now quite rare.
“Not just anyone can make jacquard-woven products, and creating a design with the complex colors of a ‘painting’ is something only Aoki Hifuku, with its high level of skill, can do,” she said.
The artwork featured on the jacquard mat is Small Table at Dusk (Yugure no Shotaku).
It was painted by Henri Le Sidaner and is part of the Ohara Museum of Art’s collection.
One of the jacquard mat’s features is that it can be used in a variety of settings.
It can be used as a placemat on the dining table, a table mat in the entryway, or as part of your interior decor when framed, making it a product that fits naturally into everyday life.
Of course, it is washable, so this jacquard mat can be enjoyed at home for years to come.
The challenge of getting as close to the original as possible with jacquard weaving
How did the idea of creating a product in collaboration with Aoki Hifuku come about?
Nakayama told us that it came to fruition after “we received an enthusiastic offer from Shigeru Aoki, president and CEO of Aoki Hifuku.”
Aoki is a fan of the Ohara Museum of Art and had apparently fallen in love with each and every work in its collection.
He approached the Museum Shop, saying, “I’d really love to collaborate!”
The Museum Shop also had a strong desire to create something with people from the local community.
With both sides sharing the same vision, the collaboration to create the product became a reality.
There were two reasons for choosing Small Table at Dusk as the design.
First, it is one of Aoki’s favorite works.
Second, they felt it was a work well suited to being rendered in jacquard weaving.
As its title suggests, Small Table at Dusk depicts the scene at dusk, before the surroundings grow completely dark.
Although the overall impression is dark, there are no areas painted in solid black.
The work is characterized by its delicate use of color, with layers of blue close to black in the darker areas.
The overall bluish tone depicts shadows cast by buildings and chairs, capturing the dusk scene in fine detail.
“Together with Aoki Hifuku, we took on the challenge of seeing how closely jacquard weaving could reproduce Small Table at Dusk,” Nakayama revealed.
The key to getting close to the original: the overall color balance
The key was the overall color balance.
They kept in mind that when people use the jacquard mat, they would usually view the design of Small Table at Dusk from some distance rather than up close.
The same is true when viewing the original Small Table at Dusk.
They wanted to create a product that would convey the original’s colors at a glance, whether a vase was placed on the mat or it was framed and propped against a wall.
For example, they repeatedly requested that “the red be toned down a little,” then had several of the woven red threads pulled out.
Looking back on the production process, Nakayama said:
“When you pull out some of the red threads, the overall color balance changes, so they had to do quite complex work, adding and removing other colors in their place.
I think we were able to create a product unlike anything that had come before because of both Aoki’s love for the artwork and its high level of jacquard-weaving expertise.
When viewed from a distance, we were able to get quite close to the color balance of the original Small Table at Dusk.”
The complex weaving of multiple layers of thread is actually visible when you look at the back.
They deliberately chose not to hide the overlapping woven threads.
The back is also very beautiful, and Aoki Hifuku’s high level of craftsmanship can be seen throughout.
The appeal of the jacquard mat: in a good way, it is not the original
This jacquard mat is full of thought and care, and was made by taking on the challenge of getting as close as possible to the original colors.
But Nakayama had one more thing she wanted to convey.
“I want to emphasize that this is deliberately a different thing from the original. I don’t usually get the chance to explain this much to customers.”
Behind those words was the Ohara Museum of Art Museum Shop’s hope that “by bringing art into everyday life, more people will come to feel that art is close to them.”
“When you look at the jacquard mat, you’ll see that there is a lot of empty space on the left side.
Rather than designing ‘A Small Table at Dusk’ across the entire surface, we deliberately left some space.
That’s because we wanted the fact that the jacquard weave is denim fabric to be immediately apparent.
This item was made possible precisely because it was a collaboration with Aoki Hifuku.
As we worked on it, we wanted to make it different from the original.
I hope people will use it as a mat for many years to come.”
You can also see the words “Ohara Museum of Art Museum Shop” and “≪A Small Table at Dusk≫ Henri Le Sidaner (in the collection of the Ohara Museum of Art)” in the empty space.
“When something is written in the empty space, don’t you wonder, ‘What is this?’
I thought that, rather than showing only ‘A Small Table at Dusk,’ a mat that reveals the denim fabric and includes text would catch people’s eye more.
If someone stops in front of the jacquard mat, they can learn that ‘A Small Table at Dusk’ is in the collection of the Ohara Museum of Art without anyone having to explain it.
I hope it might inspire them to think, ‘Maybe I’ll go to the Ohara Museum of Art to see the original.’
And, ideally, I hope that children who grow up in homes with a jacquard mat will visit the Ohara Museum of Art when they’re older.
“If they think, ‘The original of the mat we have at home is at the Ohara Museum of Art!’ I couldn’t be happier.”
In a good way, this jacquard mat is different from the original.
It’s an easy-to-use everyday item that lets you live alongside art.
“Please come to the Ohara Museum of Art to see the original,” said Nakayama, with an unforgettable smile.
From the Writer
When I first saw the denim jacquard art mat, I found myself naturally alternating between looking at it from a distance and up close.
As I wondered how it was made, its beautiful jacquard weave made me want to take a long, close look, just as I would at an original painting.
You cannot touch the original artwork, of course, but you can touch the jacquard mat.
Looking at it and touching it, and experiencing the skill of jacquard weaving, made me grow attached to the artwork depicted on it.
It is different from the original, but it has its own appeal precisely because it is not the original.
Unlike standard merchandise such as clear files and postcards, I found it appealing as an item that brings you closer to the original.
After viewing the original “Small Table at Dusk” at the Ohara Museum of Art, be sure to stop by the museum shop as well.
The denim jacquard art mat is sure to enrich your everyday life.
Articles about the Ohara Museum of Art
What would you like to know about Kurashiki?
Enter a word to search articles on this site
