Reviving Boro

Exploring Japanese Textile Repair Culture

AvLeren Li

Inbunden, Engelska, 2026

Del i serien Bloomsbury Visual Arts

1 427 kr

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Beskrivning

From ‘shameful’ utilitarian garments to a contemporary, transcultural fashion trend: like wabi-sabi and kintsugi before it, boro has gained worldwide recognition as a quintessential Japanese aesthetic and sustainable design practice. How has this cross-cultural reimagining shaped boro’s meaning in art and fashion? And what are we doing when we make, collect, display and wear boro today?As boro’s functional value has decreased in the contemporary context, it has acquired new layers of meaning: from antique object to vintage fashion style, sustainable design practice to contemporary art piece. Reviving Boro investigates this revival using primary materials, including a wealth of unpublished images, oral histories and archival research.Leren Li conducts a thorough examination of the process of value generation, reviewing personal and museum boro collections, emerging boro brands, and recent boro initiatives undertaken by independent fashion innovators. Investigating boro as a revived cultural phenomenon, this is a critical resource for readers wanting to understand the past, present and future of this traditional Japanese textile.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2026-10-15
Mått:189 x 246 x 13 mm
Vikt:438 g
Format:Inbunden
Språk:Engelska
Serie:Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Antal sidor:248
Förlag:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN:9781350516243

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Mer om författaren

Leren Li is a design historian and curator who works internationally. She taught on the Global Fashion program at New York University London and curated the permanent design display at the China Design Museum. She received her PhD degree from the V&A/RCA History of Design Program. Her research centers on transcultural design, East Asian material and visual cultures, fashion, and the intersections of craft and the creative industries.

Recensioner i media

This wonderfully engaging and original account takes us on a rich and insightful journey of rediscovery through the origins, history and lived continuity of boro, from its cultural roots in Japan to its contemporary and transnational reinvention as a practice of creativity and care.

Innehållsförteckning

AcknowledgementsIntroduction1. What is Boro? – Repair, Circulation, and the Ethics of MottainaiPatchwork, Quilting Appliqué: Situating Boro within Japan’s Craft GenealogySpeaking of Boro: Words, Meanings, and Culture TranslationIdentity Threads: From Kesa to Boro in Japanese’s Patchwork TraditionsSashiko: A Cultural Stitch in Japanese PatchworkWisdom in Waste: Mottainai and the Treasured Scraps2. Threads of Time: Tracing Boro’s Origins and Cultural ReinventionFrom Tokyo to Aomori: Searching for the OriginsIn Search of Boro's Roots: Exploring Aomori's “Missing Heritage”Disaster, Labour, and Poverty: The Textile Born from HumblenessPatchwork Kinship: Bodoko and the Construction of Japanese Ethnicity3. Rags to Recognition: The Curatorial Rewriting of BoroThe “Shameful Rags”: The First Boro Exhibition in JapanAnonymity as Authorship: Early Boro Exhibits in America during 1990sGender, Value, and Voice in Curatorial NarrativesShowcasing Boro as New Fashion4. Becoming Boro: From Rural Survival to Contemporary FashionVintage Revival: Second-Hand and the Rise of Boro-Style in JapanIndigo Kinship: How American Denim Shaped Japan’s New Boro AestheticLuxury Rags: Boro’s Journey into High Fashion MarketStitching Together: Boro Communities and the Co-Creation of MeaningBibliographyFurther ResourcesIndex