Rice is the staple food for over half of humanity. Only in Asia over two billion people obtain 60% of daily calorie intake from rice and it is the fastest growing food source in Africa. For thousands of years the cultivation of rice has united the people to work together and the need for calm water for this crop has smoothed and harmonized the contours of the landscape.
Since time immemorial beliefs in Japan have linked the gods to the protection of the rice fields. Traditionally flowering cherry blossoms announce the arrival of the Gods and that is when the rice planting season begins with the celebration of rituals and tributes to the Gods of the earth. Currently the Japanese refer to rice as their “mother” and consider the producers of rice guardians of their culture and the countryside.
This Japanese rice ritual is the clear inspiration for this collection. Oversize shapes, the festive attire displayed in the Japanese rice fields are presented in the forms of the pieces inspired by this offering.
The tapes that bind the pieces are inspired by the strips that rice workers use to tie up their sleeves and the bottoms of the legs of their work trousers. They hand craft the tapes and strips to evoke the shape of the rice fields and the rice plant. Largely woven using hand looms, they use different techniques to evoke nature and its forms.
The terraces of the rice fields are represented by the union of fabrics to create organic shapes and rubber tapes and overlapping fabrics are also used. The landscape of rice fields is constructed by combining different materials and colors.
The fabrics, mostly natural, are cotton, linen, silk and lvocell. The trend of combining fabrics in one piece is a constant.
The colors emulate nature and rice fields from earth to mud color to the green of the flowering plant. Earth and plant tones are present throughout the collection.
Photo: Barcelona Fashion
