In a quiet industrial corner of Kojima, Japan, a pair of unconventional dyers have been forging their own unique approach over the past few decades. Working across both synthetic and natural pigments, they celebrate irregularity and spontaneity as part of the art of small scale piece dyeing, or the dyeing of fabric after its woven. Years of research and experimentation with natural dyes and vintage machines has given way to their singular approach toward color creation.

Pushing the limits of small vintage machines originally designed for garment washing, they champion the texture and character that emerges through this hybrid hand/machine dyeing approach. Smaller machines means fabric lengths must be pulled out quite often to be untwisted and set back into the machine. This approach is labor intensive as hands make up for what the machine alone cannot achieve.

At this intersection of man and machine - with a healthy disregard for the rules that tradition alone might impose, they've established their own path which has resulted in truly original results. Stabilizing the colorfastness of natural dyes through mixing small percentages of conventional dye, or pushing new shades and tones through different combinations of pigments - their small buzzing space feels like a mad scientist's research laboratory. Machines from half a century ago are bolted to the ground but still humming and shaking, steam billowing out when opening a hatch to review the results. Research projects developing in corners while production orders pass through. This is the type of workshop that exudes the human hand and offers depth to a finished product. They are fueled by curiosity, exploration and creation.

With the cold dye pieces, conventional pigments are utilized in an unconventional way - opting for cold water to alter the intended adherence of the dye to the fibers in the cloth which results in pronounced highs and lows in saturation. For the persimmon and iron cloth, first a beige color is set with conventional dye, then the fermented persimmon dyeing takes place before being iron mordanted.