Rowland Ricketts utilizes natural dyes and historical processes to create contemporary textiles that span art and design. Trained in indigo farming and dyeing in Japan, Rowland received his MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art and is a Professor in Indiana University’s Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design. A recipient of a United States Artists Fellowship, his work has been exhibited at the Textile Museum in Washington, DC, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery, and the Seattle Art Museum.

Chinami is a weaver who crafts traditional narrow-width yardage for kimono and obi using historical kasuri (ikat) techniques.  After studying indigo dyeing in her native Tokushima, the center of indigo cultivation and processing in Japan, Chinami pursued an apprenticeship with Yumie Aoto, where she learned the kasuri and weaving techniques that form the foundation of her work today.

Rowland and Chinami work together to grow and process the indigo that they use in their individual and collaborative work using historical Japanese techniques that are all natural and environmentally sustainable.