Guest blog post Twofold, a company founded by Jessica Warner to explore textiles around the globe, has just announced a new small-group trip to Japan in spring 2017. This is the company's second Tokyo Textile Tour & Indigo Retreat, which promises a rich, in-depth experience of Japan by exploring the country's textiles, both old and new. Starting in Tokyo, Jessica has arranged private, behind-the-scenes studio and showroom tours with contemporary textile designers, a highlight of which includes meeting Reiko Sudo, the head of NUNO, a company renowned for its innovative textile techniques (and currently featured in Scraps:Fashion, Textiles and Creative Reuse at Cooper Hewitt). In contrast, the tour also includes a visit to a century-old kimono-dyeing workshop to see fabrics being dyed using traditional methods. Participants will also have the opportunity to be fitted for a custom yukata at the atelier of Hiroko Takahashi, a textile designer who is reinvigorating traditional Japanese garments with contemporary designs. These studio visits provide a unique opportunity to meet locals and explore neighborhoods that aren't usually on the tourist map. Jessica has additional studio visits planned as well as guided walking tours and shopping for vintage textiles and contemporary design. After exploring Tokyo, the group will travel by train to a village outside the city for an intensive indigo-dyeing retreat. While staying in a 150-year-old silk-farming house surrounded by lush hills, participants will experience village life and learn the fundamentals of katazome and shibori. The group's host, Bryan Whitehead, is a Canadian expatriate who has lived in Japan for over 25 years and is an expert in Japanese textiles who grows his own indigo and breeds silk worms. In addition to lessons in indigo dyeing, the group will enjoy other cultural experiences, including ikebana and tea ceremony lessons, visits to local potters and the opportunity to participate in local Children's Day festivities. A highlight of the retreat will be a day-trip to visit to the home and workshop of a seventh-generation katazome master. This small-group tour and retreat is limited to 8 people. www.twofoldtextiles.com