North House and the World Shibori Network Foundation Partner to Host Kenta Watanabe at Unplugged 2025
Unplugged returns this fall, and we're honored to announce Kenta Watanabe, an indigo farmer and dyer from Tokushima, Japan, will be joining as one of our 2025 Featured International Instructors!
The World Shibori Network Foundation (WSNF) and North House Folk School are partnering to bring Kenta Watanabe, next-generation indigo farmer, Sukumo indigo maker, and dyer to the U.S.A. from Tokushima, Japan.
Sukumo indigo and its dye vat preparation are centuries-old practices that were developed in Japan by aishi, the indigo farmer–sukumo maker. The work and art of aishi are extremely rigorous and time-consuming and have become economically unviable in modern times. Today, in all of Japan, only five to six aging master aishi, whose families produced sukumo for multiple generations, remain. Thus, the supply of sukumo is short and usually only available to a select community of Japanese artists and artisans.
With the risk of losing the tradition and technology of Japanese sukumo real and looming, Kenta apprenticed with Osamu Nii, a sixth-generation master aishi, who also taught Rowland Riketts, the American sukumo indigo artist and professor at the University of Indiana. Now, Kenta continues the sukumo-making tradition for the global contemporary world so that its blue produced by an ecosystem of natural microorganisms can be embraced by younger generations.
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Kenta shares his “seed to dye” expertise and knowledge gained from working with the master aishi, who continues to guide him. Sukumo is produced by tending to the natural processes of decomposition and fermentation of indigo leaves over 100 days. Sukumo’s blue indigo dye can be accessed for quite some time by further tending to the entirely natural bacterial ecosystem generated in a sukumo indigo vat.
WSNF wishes to support Kenta’s efforts to carry on sukumo traditions. This ancient knowledge and technology are totally in harmony with Nature. Taking the time to understand where our blue dye comes from and what it’s made of brings a new level of appreciation for our textiles. This knowledge and appreciation are an asset and a gift. We engage with Kenta, his innovative Sukumo Indigo Starter Kit, and our community to learn nature’s organic sukumo process.
We would like to note that materials/ technology similar to sukumo exist as indigo balls in Africa and woad balls in Europe.
About the World Shibori Network Foundation:
The World Shibori Network Foundation (WSNF) endeavors to preserve and revitalize Japanese Shibori and diverse textile craft heritage and techniques practiced across the globe. We support research, create opportunities for exhibitions and networking, and connect makers with markets. We curate culturally immersive educational travel programs, workshops, and local events on a global level–in Berkeley, San Francisco, Minneapolis, NYC, Australia, Bolivia, Chile, China, France, India, Japan, Mexico, the UK, and beyond. Our signature International Shibori Symposia, begun in 1992, convenes for its 12th time in September 2026 in Basel, Switzerland.
Indigenous cultures thrived with materials and methods available to them in their environment. By highlighting their ingenious and resourceful “slow” technologies, WSNF invites us all to reimagine these approaches–regenerative and harmonious with our environment–in all forms and aspects of fiber art.
