Echino Fabrics

I recently (well, about 20 minutes ago) posted about Design Festa and indirectly referred to Echino Etsuko, a designer for Kokka fabrics. I thought I would write a little more about her.

When I first got to Japan nearly two years ago, somehow I came across her designs on the Internet. I tried really hard to find a shop that stocked her products (I even went to Nippori - fabric town - which is famous for its wide variety of sewing goods) but I couldn't find anything.

Finally, I found out she was exhibiting at Odaiba in a huge craft exhibition. I went there with the naive hope that she would be there (maybe this occurs in Kiwis who are used to seeing NZ TV stars ont eh street or out shopping?). Well, she wasn't, but her gorgeous fabric was - I bought a few hundred dollars worth and went home happy.

It seems very difficult to buy the fabrics here in Japan - unless you are a commercial outfit...but in the U.S. and Australia there seem to be stockists. Some lovely people on the lovely Etsy are using it to make lovely products.