Aboubakar Fofana & Awonoyoh present
Real Fermented Indigo Master Class
/Fujino,Japan/April1-8 or April11-18,2021

Aboubakar Fofana

Aboubakar Fofana was born in West Africa but spent many years living and working in France. His atelier is in Bamako, Mali, where he and his small team of trained artisans produce unique modern textiles using 100% natural processes and ancient indigenous techniques.

As a child in West Africa, Aboubakar Fofana was told about green leaves that made blue colours. Years later, already a successful calligrapher, artist and graphic designer living in France, he remembered this story, and started on a long journey to understand indigo and his African heritage.

The technique of fermented indigo dyeing using whole indigo leaves had already disappeared from West Africa by the time Fofana first heard about it, replaced by synthetic dyes. Fofana pieced together the technique by reading and asking, and by trial and error. It took many years to understand the process and longer again to master this difficult but unmatchable method of dyeing. And he is still learning.

His work reflects the living materials he uses, harnessing their cycles of birth, life and decay, and the seasonal rhythms of nature. His indigo vats are alive as well, the colour a visible imprint of these natural cycles, and the most challenging part of his work is understanding and working with the living things to allow these colours to become visible.

He uses fine natural fabrics to take up these colours, with a preference for the luxurious organic Malian cotton, handspun and handwoven, that many of his pieces are made from.
Fofana is dedicated to preserving this tradition of fermented indigo dyeing, along with other West African textile techniques and indigenous materials. His work has been exhibited all over the world.

Takayuki Ishii

Takayuki Ishii is an indigo dye artisan who was born in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.
He currently owns a workshop in the mountainous area of Kanagawa Prefecture, where he runs an indigo dyeing company using traditional techniques and materials.

Takayuki started contemplating about a sustainable society right after the nuclear power plant accident during the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and knew about indigo dyeing.
Polluted water used in chemical dyeing flows through the river to the sea and destroys the ecosystem. However, the indigo dye that he uses is a sustainable and natural pigment that can become fertilizer for the land or food for the fishes.

Takayuki studied indigo dyeing at an indigo dyeing workshop in Tokyo, and then visited many workshops in different parts of Japan to acquire even more knowledge and techniques on indigo dyeing. He also learned and mastered all the procedures necessary for traditional Japanese textile dyeing: yarn, fabric, katazome, shibori, tsutsugaki,batik, and others.

Currently, there are only six artisans who produce raw material for indigo dye (sukumo) in Japan. The aging of the Japanese population, which has become a major social problem in Japan, has made it more difficult to obtain sukumo every year.
This is a complicated problem in the Japanese textile industry.

Takayuki grows the indigo plants and produces sukumo by himself to preserve the traditional method of indigo dyeing.
He passes on his knowledge to many people and works hard to preserve the traditional way of Japanese textile dyeing.