The East West Kimono

The arrival of the East West Art Kimono at the Barnes Art Fair 2022 is the result of a collaboration between Michelle Hawes, Belinda Shaw, and Pookie Blezard from Barnes Artists. 

The three women had not met before joining Barnes Artists and had not considered an East West Art Kimono but, talking together as Barnes Artist’s do, the momentum was established for the development of this original art piece.

Belinda discussed her idea of placing one of her textile collages onto a Kimono with Michelle and explained that her sewing skills were not up to creating the type of traditional Kimono she envisaged as the foil for her work. In addition, despite extensive searches on the Internet she had not been able to find any suitable garment she could adapt to fulfil her vision.  

Michelle who has a background in fashion, garment cutting and sewing, enthusiastically took up the challenge of the Art Kimono. A woman of many passions, including vintage clothing, this felt like something she could put her her heart into.

Next, Michelle talked with Pookie, a successful fashion designer who develops her oil paintings into prints for her Barnes based brand Pazuki. She offered to facilitate Belinda’s vision, taking Belinda’s art work, photographing it and getting it digitally printed into crepe viscose fabric.

When Belinda saw the result - her collage bigger and better and with more texture than she could have imagined in a one-dimensional, printed fabric - she alerted Michelle who began the faithful work of cutting and stitching the East West Kimono into existence.  Keeping faith with traditional Japanese and Korean Kimonos and the people who made them, the seams are invisible and mainly finished by hand.

The East West Kimono showing at Barnes Art Fair 22 is a prototype  and we are happy to accept commissions to take the work forward.  The preliminary development has shown us that different approaches are needed to cutting, sewing and placing original art work for Kimonos as garments and for Kimonos as decorative hangings. We would like to offer both options, separately or combined, as one-off, bespoke, individual Art Kimonos. This work demands inspiration, creativity, time, labour and love to make a ‘happy coat’ which graces a wall or room and/or body, fulfilling individual choices and desires.  

Belinda Shaw
Michelle Hawes
Pookie Blezard