Workshop: Sustainability & Sashiko

Sashiko, a mending technique with stitches, is one of the oldest traditional Japanese upcycling techniques. Artist mai ide leads this workshop that finds a confluence between mending fabric and repairing emotional intimacy, loneliness, and fragility.

The participants of this workshop will discover both the cultural meaning of sashiko and sustainability and also gain new insight into mending our brokenness or traumatic experiences. This workshop allows participants to reclaim their slow moments, meditating and discerning vulnerability while they mend their garments to lead the holistic well-being of the planet.

Materials Provided:

• cotton thread
• vintage Japanese rough plain woven cotton fabric
• needle
• Shashiko needle
• paper
• ruler
• scissors
• erasable ink
• fabric marker or tailor’s chalk

Participants are also encouraged to bring their own clothes to be repaired to enhance the personal themes of the workshop.

About Sashiko:

Sashiko (刺し子) is a traditional Japanese embroidery and stitching dating back to the Edo period (1615 –1868). It was first developed among working-class people, farmers, and fishermen to mend their daily clothes and clothing. Through Sashiko, they could make garments stronger, more durable, and last longer. They kept mending in this way and passed techniques down from generation to generation. As such, Sashiko is one of the oldest traditional Japanese upcycling techniques. Artist Mai Ide finds a confluence between mending fabric and repairing emotional intimacy, loneliness, and fragility. Her workshop is a space for participants to eliminate lingering trauma and reframe our society for deeper emotional communal bonds and authentic humanity which we have forgotten.

About the Instructor:

mai ide is an artist from Tokyo, now based in Portland, OR. Her multidisciplinary art investigates her own cultural intersectionality and deep ambivalence as an immigrant, mother, and woman. As a non-native speaker of English, ide’s practice is expressing discomfort of being classified or perceived by society as an “other” or “forever foreigner” in the U.S. Ide’s use of salvaged fabric and sashiko stitches conveys her simultaneous vulnerability, fragility and ferocity under a constrained, violent and volatile society. ide holds a BFA in Art Practice from Portland State University (OR) as well as degrees in sewing, pattern making, and textile design in Japan, where she worked for twelve years as a material designer. Previous exhibitions and performances include at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum and Museum of Kyoto in Japan, and Jordan Schnitzer Museum in Oregon. Ide is a current MFA candidate in Visual Studies at Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland.

Learn more: www.maiide.com

This workshop is brought to you through collaboration with the Japanese Cultural Center.

This project is partially supported by a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.

This project is supported, in whole or in part, by federal assistance listing number, 21.027 awarded to the International Museum of Surgical Science by the US Treasury through the American Rescue Plan Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds in the amount of $125,000.00, representing 83% of total project funding.

This project is partially supported by a Chicago Arts Recovery Program grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.

The International Museum of SurgicalScience acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

International Museum of Surgical Science, 1524 North Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, United States