Ghost Towel

This towel is great!

The cutest towel ever.

But this towel isn't just to be looked at.
Because it's a towel, it's meant to be used, and on your skin no less.

This towel is so soft I wish you could feel it for yourself. When I ask the designer about the softness he grinned and a devilish laugh bubbled forth. He seems pretty confident about its quality.

The best towels are known to come from Imabarishi (a city in Japan).
Right?

The designer has found a particular pile fabric maker he trusts most amongst all the factories in Imabarishi. You'd think the factory workers sleep with the towels given how particular they are.

To make this towel the designer visited the towel museum and other famous shops in Imabarishi before finally finding a feel he was satisfied with.

So what's so great? It all starts with the raw materials.

The cotton used in the towel isn't ordinary, it's 100% silk cotton. The cotton is grown with water from the Tenzan mountain range in central Japan, making it white like the melted snow from which it grows, and giving it a unique viscous feel.

And then once the cotton is ripe it is picked by hand. That's why it becomes so soft. And stays soft through years of use.

Ok, I get that it's top notch cotton, but how different is it from the "average"? First of all, most cotton is picked before its ready by a machine. To get rid of the leaves, which are in the way, a defoliant is used. The defoliant will also hollow out the cotton so a stimulant is used to make the cotton swell. That's how cotton is usually grown.

Consideration is also given to the thread made from this exceptional cotton.

The thread is spun as thin and with as little twist as possible which helps make it soft.

This is all carefully woven into a fabric to achieve a towel which despite being light, is also thick, and of course, soft. The towel is also great at absorbing water.

The more you wash it the better the towel gets.

This ghost is not only cute, but easy on kids.

writtenafterwards

writtenafterwards is the the fashion brand which created this cute towel.

It was first announced in their 2008 spring "collection #02".

homesick was the theme of the collection, as they attempted to capture the warmth of the home; the feeling you get when inside a warm bed on a cold winter day. Pajamas made from the same cotton as the towel will certainly keep you wanting to snooze longer.

Their name is Pajama Portet.

writtenafterwards is a world full of warmth, story and a dash of cuteness.

I don't know much about the fashion world, but writtenafterwards seems to be heading in the opposite direction of an industry standard of making a new collection each season for a particular fad.

Mixing clothes with products such as ghost towel, writtenafterwards also plans to make long runs rather than switching style every year. I think they are imagining and working toward a plentiful world.

> writtenafterwards (Japanese)

World Lace Map

I'd like to introduce another work from writtenafterwards which caught my attention.

That's the World Lace Map.

The concept for the map comes from their 2007 "collection #01". "before running away from home" begins as a young girl decides to runaway.

This is the map the girl has in hand as she ventures out. As in legend of old, you'll notice the three elephants said to support the world, underneath are turtles, then snakes and so on. The continuation of this legend is what's written on the map.

The animals continue down... And they are all standing atop a book.

Embodying such a grand and endearing story into lace is one thing, but actually making it was another.

Usually lace is made by determining part of the pattern and repeating. In order to program the machine, punch cards are still used.

It takes a tremendous amount of time to punch each hole in order to complete a pattern. If you look carefully at the lace, there are almost no repeated patterns.

In order to make the pattern, then the actual finished lace took an unprecedented amount of time.

A world full of dreams and adventure, a world from our youth has been crystalized into this delicate, beautiful lace map.

If you saw this lace as part of your everyday life, I'm sure something would change, even if just a little.