We were fortunate to cross paths with Haru, first through an introduction by Kei, and later in person during a team visit. In a beautiful mountaintop atelier in Kyoto, Japan, she works alongside time, nature, and plants as creative partners. Through botanical dyes, patience, and care, Haru creates artifacts that are not finished at the moment they are made, but only once they become part of someone’s everyday life journey. We are truly delighted to share this conversation and to learn more about her life and process.
- Eunice
❖ A special thank you to our team member Kei for translating this conversation.
BK: Haru, we are so delighted to have you with us from Japan! Could you share a glimpse into your life and background, and how your journey as an artist/designer/maker began?
Haru: I have loved drawing since childhood. During high school, I was painting using oil paints, but slowly I began to want to create something more useful and practical for people’s everyday life. I felt that the material that is closely tied to our daily life was “fabric”, so I decided to enroll in Art University in Kyoto to learn about the traditional fabric dyeing and weaving methods. For a few years, I was experimenting with my textile work using synthetic dyes. But I started to feel like the modern method of simply dissolving powder and producing color easily didn’t feel right to me. While I was researching, I stumbled across the natural plant-dye methods. Compared to synthetic dye methods, plant dyeing takes a lot more time and care, and it was very difficult to control the colors compared to any other dyeing techniques I knew at the time. But I was drawn to the richness of colors you can get only from plant dyeing, and this was how I started my journey with natural dyes.
There is a Japanese historic ceramic artist named Kanjiro Kawai. And he has mentioned in his interviews, “Work is life, life is work,” and this is something I aim to achieve in my creative journey. I always hope to create artifacts that can support and be part of users’ lives and my own.
BK: What was the catalyst that inspired you to start haru nomura? Was there a particular moment or story that inspired you to begin?
Haru: At the University, I took a course called “How to Make a Living from Making Things”, where we learned everything from how to create a product and how to sell it successfully. During this class, I produced handmade bags using my natural dyed fabrics, and this was the catalyst for launching my brand. I felt immense joy seeing a bag I made being passed into someone’s hands and become part of their everyday life.
One memorable episode from my early days is when a customer brought a bag that they had purchased from my earlier exhibition, and showed me her bag by saying, “This is how it has changed”. The fabric had softened and worn in from use to fit the user’s body, and the plant-dyed colors had faded into a beautiful patina. I remember feeling struck by the colors and texture that I could not achieve when I initially dyed the fabric. In fact, the used bag looked so much better than when it was new. This was when I realized that my products’ “final form” is achieved only after they become part of the user's everyday life.
BK: There are countless methods of dyeing fabric, yet you chose to work exclusively with botanical plants. What drew you to this path, and what continues to keep you inspired to keep going in this direction?
Haru: The first reason is the charm of the processes and steps in plant dye methods. The smell you get from boiling plants and the slow changes in the water with colors from the materials are so beautiful that it gives me a calm feeling, even if it is for my work. Chopping up plants, boiling them, and straining pieces feels much closer to cooking. I go to sleep looking forward to the next day, wondering what colors I will encounter.
The second reason is the depth of the colors of natural plant dyes. Many plants may not dye fabrics in the same colors as their own body. For example, there may be a lot of “green” leaves around us, but many leaves won’t dye fabric in greens. Oftentimes, green leaves will dye fabrics in “brown” or “yellow” colors. So fascinating. I believe that the natural plant-dye process for me is a research experiment to discover the hidden colors of each plant.
The third reason is the beauty of the patina on fabric dyed with plants. At haru nomura, we describe the aging/patina of the fabric as “growing/raising the fabric”. Typically, we describe aging and decaying materials as negative, but I believe that patina and worn-in fabrics are more of a positive idea. Even with the same fabrics, the change in colors and textures varies depending on the users and their lives.
BK: One of our favorite details is the tag attached to each bag, documenting the date, humidity, and plants used in the dyeing process. How did this practice begin, and what does this record mean to you?
Haru: With natural dyes, the colors you get vary depending on the seasons, temperatures, and humidity levels. I wish I could describe how each bag was produced to each customer who is curious about my products, but it is pretty difficult for me to do so since I am the only person who is running my brand. So I wanted to create a label tag that each of my products could “describe itself on its own”. The label shows the type of plants used and when it was dyed, and other information that may help describe the products. I designed this label tag with a graphic designer named Kentaro Nakamura, and we were able to create an information tag that feels more like a letter to the users from me. The tag can be helpful to track to see how long you have been using the bag. The other day, one of the customers found a bag that was dyed on their birthday.
BK: Out of all the botanical dyes you’ve worked with so far, which has been the most challenging and what has that experience taught you?
Haru: The persimmon dye, kaki-shibu, is one of the natural dyes that my brand cherishes. The persimmon dyes are created by fermenting the juice of astringent persimmon, and it is one of Japan’s heritage materials. The persimmon dyes are water-resistant, and it protects the materials underneath their layer, so traditionally, it was used as a protective layer for wooden products, and were used to coat Japanese paper umbrellas. The persimmon dye is an attractive dye that shows the most noticeable changes over time, but it takes more than two weeks to dye the fabric. I repeat the process of dyeing the fabric and let it sun dry a few times to get to the tough textures and color I want to achieve for my products. The persimmon dyes require sunlight for their color development, so having bad weather causes my production to stop, and sometimes it makes me want to give up. It is currently snowing a lot outside, and my production line has been stopped due to the bad weather. But through the persimmon dyeing process, I learned to “wait” and be patient with nature. Sometimes, I encounter something unexpected and wonderful when things don't go according to my plans.
BK: During our visit to your studio, we noticed your beautiful Traveler’s Notebook! Could you share which analogue tools or rituals are part of your daily rhythm, and how they support your creative practice or life outside of work?
Haru: The Tyvek tags and product tags on our bags are stamped by hand. Due to the nature of hand-pressed stamps, sometimes the stamps get smudged or the logos are crooked, but I think that's what makes them so adorable and unique.
The plant-dyed strings used to tie the label onto our bags are also dyed using leftover solutions. I always dye a little extra and make a ball of thread for me to use later. I use it as a ribbon when shipping products, or as an ornament when giving a small gift to a friend.
BK: Many of your bags carry a fun story within of how they came to be. Is there a particular one that feels especially meaningful to you, and why?
Haru: In the past, when I was attending a sewing class, my teacher told me, “What you are making isn’t a purse or a bag, but more like a sack.” It was a shocking comment to me. I think my teacher was suggesting that I make more elaborately designed and functional bags. However, my teacher’s words made me realize that I wanted to make a “simple sack-like shaped artifact that would bring out the colors of the plant dyes.” After that incident, I became interested in the shape of sacks rather than bags.
BK: As a designer/artist/maker, where do you find inspiration, especially in unexpected places?
Haru: When it comes to the shape of bags, I often look to simple everyday sacks as design inspiration. One example is the flexible container bags (Furecon) used at construction sites and on farmland. I happened to walk past a construction site when my eye was caught by a flexible container bag filled with a lot of rubble. I was drawn to the simplicity and durability of the flexible container bag's appearance and began thinking about how I could apply this structure to a bag design. I also find inspiration in my everyday life, such as trouser pockets and rice transportation bags.
BK: Your work beautifully embraces change, such as colors fading, fabrics softening, and time leaving a unique mark. How do you personally relate to the idea of impermanence?
Haru: The colors created by plant dyes last much longer than the lifespan of a plant, but they are not eternal. The natural fabrics used in our bags are more susceptible to wear and tear than synthetic fibers, and they break and fray. There is something sad and sentimental about this change, but I also think it is a joy that allows us to appreciate the time we have lived. Fabric faded by the sun, stains from spilled juice, and the worn edges of a bag handle all feel like badges of merit in that person's life.
This cherishing change is also reflected in the haru nomura's repairs. While most repairs aim to restore something to its original state, our brand proposes repairs that leverage the changes that have occurred over time. We re-dye items in completely different colors from the original, and even carry out creative repairs such as adding pockets and zippers. We want to help our users live more personal lives through our products.
BK: As your bags age and patina alongside their owners, what kind of relationship do you hope people form with them over time?
Haru: Among the haru nomura bags, there is one called the "Tabi Suru Kaban (Traveling Bag)." When it was completed, the bag had a light feel that inspired travel, so it was named accordingly. We hope that the bag users will take their haru nomura bags on many journeys together. Of course, traveling abroad is one thing, but even a daily walk around the neighborhood is another small journey. We would be extremely happy if the bags created in our small mountaintop atelier could accompany you on your life's journey.
❖ Where to find Haru:
Website: haruka-nomura.info
instagram: @haru_nomura
❖ BK Artifacts Featured:
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