Craftsmanship
INDEN-YA : Techniques Passed Down as Family Secrets - 1 Urushizuke
Lustrous Lacquer Patterns Bring INDEN to Life
INDEN is known to many as "lacquered deerskin," because urushizuke—meaning lacquer application— is the most well-known INDEN decorative technique. Hand-cut stencils are laid over dyed deerskin and lacquer is applied to form patterns. This unique INDEN production approach, passed down in the family for generations, masterfully combines the characteristics of deerskin leather and lacquer and uses traditional decorative patterns to create visually stunning final products.
INDEN-YA : Techniques Passed Down as Family Secrets - 2 Fusube
Colors and Textures Created Using Smoke
The fusube coloring technique entails mounting deerskin on a cylindrical frame and smoking it over burning straw to impart a sparrow-wing-brown finish. This started out as a hide tanning technique, and by the Nara Period (710–94) it had evolved into a leather-dyeing technique.
Fusube has been preserved in Japan and utilized for hundreds of years by INDEN-YA. It is still used today, but only by the most experienced and skilled artisans.
INDEN-YA : Techniques Passed Down as Family Secrets - 3 Sarasa
Exotic Ornamentation from Faraway Lands
INDEN's sarasa technique, called "Chintz cotton printing" in English, gets its name from similarly-named textiles originally brought to Japan in the 16th century through trade with Europeans. Using this technique, colors are applied one at a time in overlapping fashion using stencils, resulting in harmonious combinations of vibrant hues. Sarasa was incorporated into INDEN-YA's deerskin crafting process and remains in use at the com-pany to this day.