“Kinusaiga”

Features

A picture in relief, handmade in my workshop in the Loire, with your sentimental fabric.

The technique is called Kinusaiga, and it comes from Japan. In three moves: I coat a board with adhesive and carve grooves into it following the drawing, I cut your fabric piece by piece, and I tuck each piece into the grooves with a pointed tool (but not too pointed).

The adhesive is underneath, never on top. Your fabric keeps its feel, the one you know ❤️
You can lay your hand on it and feel the relief.

Format: a 10 × 10 cm square. One drawing to choose from about ten.

It's finished along the edges with a ribbon, and has an engraved plate on the back: your piece's number, and a QR code leading to its story. That plate is how it hangs.

The ribbon is the only part of the construction you see, so I don't pick it at random. I hunt them down, I buy overstock, and sometimes I combine several on a single piece. I live in ribbon country, with a world-renowned ribbon maker in my own town and a braid factory forty-five minutes away: that heritage deserves to be shown off.

Why a picture?

• Because the fabric can't become a bag: too thin, too fragile, too worn, too little of it... for something you carry, but not for something you hang;
• Because you're afraid of ruining it: a bag rubs, gets rained on, wears out. A picture risks nothing, the fabric stays as it is;
• Because it's a gift: a mirror or a bomber jacket makes one person happy. A picture, the whole house gets to enjoy.

What depends on your fabric

One rule governs everything else: the thicker your fabric, the simpler the drawing has to stay. It's mechanical.
Fine points and tight details depend on the material. Silk allows what a baby wrap restricts. And gradients are only possible if your fabric already contains one: each zone takes a single fabric.

When in doubt, send me a photo! It's free, it takes thirty seconds, and I'll tell you honestly what we can do with it.

Bigger, another shape, framed?

That's full bespoke: no limits, except the technical ones. Size, shape, drawing, materials: everything is decided with you.

You can start from a drawing I already offer and want it bigger, or round. You can want something that exists nowhere.
This is also where my vintage frames come out, when a project calls for one. And if you have one at home you're attached to, we start from that.

A rectangle and a round one will probably join the Essentials, maybe bigger ones too. I don't open a format before someone asks for it, so I'm not giving you a date.

An idea for a wedding

The guests' picture: everyone sends a piece of fabric before the wedding, and I make a picture delivered for the big day. Everyone finds their own, and nobody knows what it will look like beforehand, a rather exciting collective experience. (Plan ahead: collection closes six to eight weeks before.)

The process

Even though the format is fixed, the process is fully guided: you show me your fabric, we choose the drawing together, and you approve it before I cut anything.

Allow a week of making, once the quote is signed, the deposit paid and your fabric at the workshop.

Price, excluding fabric

• from 79€;
• bigger, a drawing created just for you, a frame: on quote.

How much fabric?

Much less than you think. A few pieces are enough, and they can come from different parts of the garment. The drawing decides, not the surface.