Selected Work
Projects that show how Japanese techniques, materials, and collaboration can move between craft, design, and art—and come to belong in contemporary life and space.
What These Projects Represent
Selected Work is not a catalog. It is a record of how works living between craft, design, and art are brought into context.Our work often begins with translation: between material and setting, tradition and contemporary use, Japanese making and North American context. These projects show different scales of that practice—from dining environments and lighting studies to textile collaborations and domestic use.
Case Study 1
Kondaya Genbei × Victoria and Albert Museum
Hikihaku Obi · Permanent Collection · London · 2020
Seven obi pieces crafted by Kondaya Genbei — one of Kyoto's most distinguished Nishijin textile houses — are now part of the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, as part of their landmark kimono exhibition. The V&A produced a film in Kyoto documenting the Hikihaku technique — an ancient process in which lacquered foils of gold, silver, platinum, and lapis lazuli are applied to washi paper, cut into threads finer than hair, and woven into silk by hand. This project was led by thé-En's founder, working as a cultural consultant for Kondaya Genbei prior to the launch of thé-En.
Case Study 2
Sanya Kantarovsky for Taka Ishii Gallery Kyoto · Art Basel, Basel · 2023
Nishijin technique translated into an artistic context
This collaboration involved Japanese textile knowledge in dialogue with a contemporary artwork. Through Nishijin brocade and related techniques, the project reflects thé‑En’s role in bringing highly specialized making into new artistic and cultural frameworks.
Two works were produced — one in Hikihaku, an ancient technique using lacquered foils of silver, platinum, and lapis lazuli cut into threads and woven into silk, with vintage foils over 50 years old that few living artisans can still work with; the other fully handwoven in Tsuzure-ori, naturally dyed with moss, leaves, mud, and fungi, and finished with hand embroidery. Both pieces are still changing color.
Both traveled to Art Basel, Basel, with Taka Ishii Gallery in June 2023.
Case Study 3
Calico Wallpaper Dinner
Site-specific textile development for a shared table
For a dinner collaboration with Calico Wallpaper, thé‑En developed hand-dyed Japanese linen for a spatially sensitive dining setting. The project reflected our interest in how textile, hospitality, and atmosphere can work together—not as backdrop, but as part of the experience itself.
Case Study 4
Morea Kitchen & Home Linen Development
Everyday textile culture, shaped for contemporary use
Alongside one-of-a-kind collaborations, thé‑En has also worked on kitchen and home linen collections that bring Japanese sensibility into daily domestic life. These projects are quieter in scale, but central to our thinking: how material care, use, and beauty live together in the home.
Case Study 5
Filiz Soyak Textile Art
Exploring Kurimayu into the arts
Kurimayu Textile Series · Hand-Stitched Artist Collaboration · Hudson Valley / Kyoto
In collaboration with Turkish-born artist Filiz Soyak, thé-En developed a limited textile series centered on kurimayu—a rare Japanese silk produced exclusively from silkworms fed on chestnut leaves and handwoven in Japan by our craftsman. Rather than approach the fabric as a finished material, the project treated it as a living canvas, where each piece would be completed through careful hand-stitching with intention and presence.
The Approach
What distinguishes this work is the marriage of material integrity and human gesture. Soyak's stitching—deliberate, unhurried—transforms each textile into a conversation between fiber and hand. The kurimayu itself carries the specificity of its terroir: the subtle luster and weight that only chestnut-fed silk produces. The hand-stitching amplifies this integrity: no two pieces are identical. Each stitch, each pause in the work becomes visible in the finished textile.
The project emerged from a foundational question: How does textile become personal? Not through scarcity marketing, but through the visibility of care. Every stitch reflects a choice. Every textile becomes singular because it bears the mark of human presence.
Why It Works
This collaboration exemplifies thé-En's model of connecting Japanese material knowledge with contemporary artistic vision. It honors both tradition and new forms of making without diluting either. The work demonstrates how a functional textile can carry the presence of art—how material care, use, and beauty can coexist.
The pieces function as both wearable and contemplative objects, inviting the user to slow down and notice the irregularities and hand-marks that signal presence and intention. This is elegance as a result: not a destination, but the visible outcome of choice in every detail.
Beyond the Series
This project shows how thé-En works: begin with a material (kurimayu), identify the right artist (Soyak), shape the collaboration toward a specific vision, and allow the work to carry itself through its own integrity. The series lives between craft and art—and belongs in spaces where that distinction doesn't matter.
Case Study 6
Ladies & Gentlemen Studio
Exploring kurimayu silk in a contemporary lighting context
In collaboration with Ladies & Gentlemen Studio, thé‑En explored the use of kurimayu silk within a contemporary design language. The project demonstrates how traditional material intelligence can enter a new form without losing its integrity—and how a functional object can carry the presence of a work.
Beyond the Individual Project
Whether a project begins with a room, a material, an artwork, or a conversation, the process is similar: define the context, identify the right maker or technique, shape the development, and support the final placement. Selected Work is a record of how things can be made to belong—and how use and artistic presence can coexist.
If a project calls for care, context, and the right collaboration, let’s begin.
Sanya Kantarovsky “Growth” in Nishjin Brocade.
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"Growth" Sanya Kantarovsky #1 2023 Hikihaku Nishijin Brocade
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"Growth" Sanya Kantarovsky #2 2023 Tzure ori and Japanese Emboidary
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"Growth" Sanya Kantarovsky at Taka Ishii Gallery in Kyoto April 2023
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"Growth" Sanya Kantarovsky at Taka Ishii Gallery Kyoto. April 2023
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"Growth" at Art Basel with Taka Ishii Gallery. June 2023
