We love to show off the work of YokoDana.com's customers from around the world who use our vintage Japanese kimono fabrics in their creative work of all kinds. We recently received fabric orders from Karina Hesketh, a designer from northern England. She is a member of The Guild of Master Craftsmen in the United Kingdom. We saw pictures of some of her work and decided to share them here on our website as another example of how our customers engage in "re-purposing" or "upcycling" the vintage Japanese textiles they get from us at YokoDana Kimono and elsewhere -- giving these special old textiles new life and creative expression. Below are two recent examples from karinasbags.co.uk:
We asked Karina to give us some background about her work, which follows:Karina Hesketh:
A bit of background info: I'm a 65 year old woman who works with her husband from home in Northern England, been designing for a living since 1968 and have made clothes for, amongst others, Annie Lennox and Aretha Franklin, (both outfits in this video ), Helen Mirren, Julie Christie and Princess Caroline of Monaco, I designed just clothes until 2006 when I decided to make bags, as I'd already had a lot of experience making leather clothes in the 80's, I was awarded Master craftswoman status in 2010, for excellent work, however as I'm an old style socialist it was always my intention to bring handmade pieces to other clients than the rich using the strapline "Exclusive design at egalitarian prices" I have recently revived my interest in making clothes, so really looking forward to using your fabulous fabrics.
https://www.karinasbags.co.uk