The art of Shibori will be celebrated in 2026
Upcoming events
In September 2026, the European Shibori Lovers Association will welcome Japanese artist Makiko Tokunaga, a specialist in Shibori and indigo dyeing using Sukumo, from Tokushima, to Bordeaux and Targon. For two weeks, a rich and inspiring programme will allow participants to immerse themselves in these rare and precious skills. The programme will include a Shibori Lovers Day, an exhibition and masterclasses.
Our events in 2026
Whether you are a beginner, a textile art enthusiast or an experienced practitioner, these events invite you to discover, share and be inspired. ESLA's mission is to support Shibori and keep alive a cultural heritage that is in danger of disappearing.
N.B.: All events are reserved for members of the European Shibori Lovers Association (ESLA) who are up to date with their membership fee (€20) at the time of the event. Membership supports our efforts to preserve and pass on the art of Shibori.
Shibori Lovers Day
Sunday, 13 September 2026
In Bordeaux – Moon Creative Workspace, Atelier des Citernes, next to Saint-Jean railway station
Shibori Lovers Day is a day dedicated to Shibori and indigo, centred on meeting people, passing on knowledge and sharing experiences.
Throughout the day, artists, enthusiasts and those simply curious will come together to explore different approaches to Shibori through talks, demonstrations, discussions and hands-on sessions.
We look forward to welcoming Makiko Tokunaga, an internationally renowned artist from Tokushima (Japan), who will be sharing her work on Shibori and traditional Sukumo indigo dyeing. Alongside her, Isabelle Mazzucchelli, painter, and Cornelia Buttmann-Scholl, Shibori artist and founder of ESLA, will be hosting talks, meetings and demonstrations centred on their respective practices.
The afternoon will be spent enjoying a relaxed atmosphere, encouraging discussions with the speakers, exploring techniques, watching demonstrations, and taking part in a ‘Show & Tell’ session, where everyone will have the chance to present a creation, a work in progress or an object related to Shibori and indigo.
This event forms part of the exhibition Traces of Blue – Different Perspectives on Shibori and Indigo.
Opening hours: 10.00 am – 5.00 pm
Address: Moon Creative Workspace, Atelier des Citernes
45 Rue de la Compagnie du Midi, Bordeaux
Price: €20
Registration required!
Exhibition from 15 September to 3 October 2026
Traces of Blue – Different Perspectives on Shibori and Indigo
In Bordeaux – Moon Creative Workspace, Atelier des Citernes, next to Saint-Jean railway station
Free entry!
The exhibition "Traces of Blue – Different Perspectives on Shibori and Indigo" invites you to discover the richness of a world where blue becomes matter, movement and memory.
Centred on Shibori, a Japanese textile art form based on the interplay of resist techniques, folds, stitches and ties, and natural indigo, the exhibition brings together the perspectives of five artists with distinctive approaches. Textiles, photographs, plant prints, paintings and contemporary creations demonstrate the diverse ways in which this vibrant blue can be explored.
From Japan’s ancestral craft traditions to contemporary experimentation, each artist offers their own interpretation of the mark, the material and the gesture. Plants, fabric, light and the hand interact to bring forth sensitive works, sometimes precise and sophisticated, sometimes free and poetic.
Traces of Blue is also a story of encounters and the passing on of knowledge: between Japan and Europe, between craftspeople and artists, between tradition and creativity, and between those who practise Shibori and those who are discovering it.
An invitation to take the time to look, to marvel and to let yourself be swept away by all the shades of blue.
Makiko Tokunaga is a shibori artist and indigo dyer. She runs IndigoBlue4U, her studio based in Naruto, Tokushima Prefecture, Japan, where she teaches indigo dyeing and shibori with respect for nature and Japanese traditions.
It was through her mother, who was passionate about dyeing and Shibori, that she first discovered indigo as a child. Her journey then took her to the heart of Tokushima, the historic birthplace of natural indigo and Sukumo. From 2019 to 2022, she took part in a local council project to revitalise indigo cultivation, during which she learnt from local artisans the traditional skills involved in growing indigo, making Sukumo, preparing the vats and practising Shibori.
Today, together with her husband, she runs her studio as a place for practising and passing on her craft, where she shares the beauty of indigo and shibori with anyone who wishes to discover these traditional techniques.
For this exhibition, Makiko Tokunaga presents a series of four furoshiki, crafted using sophisticated stitched shibori techniques and dyed with natural indigo, known as sukumo. Through patterns that are by turns geometric and organic, these pieces demonstrate the great precision of the craft and the wealth of possibilities offered by stitched shibori.
The furoshiki, a traditional Japanese piece of fabric used in particular for wrapping, carrying or presenting objects, becomes here a true medium for artistic expression. The resists created by stitching and the various dyeing techniques give rise to compositions in which the deep blue of the indigo reveals the full subtlety of the artist’s work.
Artiste engagée, passionnée d’art et de plantes, Isabelle Mazzucchelli vit et travaille à La Capelle Masmolène, dans le Gard. Artiste de la nature et des jardins, elle développe depuis le début des années 2000 un œuvre qu’elle nomme L’Empreinte des plantes, nourri par ses promenades, ses lectures, ses rencontres dans les musées et son observation attentive du vivant.
Painting, plant prints, artist’s books and organic gardening form the various strands of her practice. She collects plants, identifies them and names them using their Latin names, which she sometimes combines with letters from our alphabet to bring stories to life and convey her hopes and dreams.
Deeply affected by the first environmental disasters as early as the 1960s, she explores, through her work, the concept of the ecological footprint and our relationship with the Earth and all living things. She also shares her practice through workshops, courses and lectures.
Pour cette exposition, Isabelle Mazzucchelli présente ces derniers travaux d’impression, des oeuvres créées avec du pigment d’indigo naturel et aussi, quelques estampes numériques. Toutes sont les fruits de sa recherche consacrée à l’indigo naturel, et font suite à sa rencontre avec l’arbuste du bleu, Indigofera Tinctoria, au jardin médiéval d’Uzès.
In her practice, she creates prints using dried plants, which she employs directly as stencils. Inked and then pressed onto paper, each plant reveals its shapes, veins and details, producing a unique print, similar to a monotype. Inspired by phytotype, an ancient technique based in particular on the use of linseed oil and carbon black, the artist offers her own personal interpretation by introducing colour into the process.
Here, the deep blue of indigo serves to enhance the delicacy of the plant imprints and reinforce the artist’s exploration of traces, the memory of forms and our connection to living things.
A French-German textile artist, Cornelia Buttmann-Scholl is passionate about textiles, the art of thread and traditional craft skills from around the world. She studied fine art, tailor-made dressmaking and translation, and today combines textile creation, the passing on of knowledge and intercultural exchange.
After completing several courses in natural dyeing, her encounter with Shibori marked a turning point in her journey. In 2023, invited to Japan by a Japanese TV channel, she learnt from Master Craftsmen at the Kyoto Shibori Museum. Since then, she has returned regularly to Japan to further her knowledge and forge links with craftspeople from different regions.
Fascinated by the richness and subtlety of Japanese craftsmanship, she focuses in particular on Nui Shibori, whose sophisticated techniques inspire a free and contemporary approach. In 2025, she founded the European Shibori Lovers Association (ESLA) to help promote and spread the art of Shibori in France and across Europe.
For this exhibition, Cornelia is presenting textile artworks and a noren made from wool and cotton, combining plant prints and shibori. The plant motifs are printed using Tataki-zome, a Japanese technique that involves hammering them directly onto the fabric to reveal their shapes and imprints. These marks are then reworked and enhanced by sewn and tied Shibori resist patterns, before being dyed with natural fermented indigo, known as Sukumo.
Through these works, the artist explores the intersection between nature and human action, between the spontaneity of the imprint and the precision of textile work. The deep blue of indigo, plant shapes and the interplay of resist areas come together to create works in which technical mastery also leaves room for the unpredictable.
A creative endeavour characterised by the living world, gentleness and poetry, in which the material itself becomes a space for contemplation and a connection with nature.
Caroline Cochet is a natural dye artist who has been based in Targon since 2018. Specialising in indigo and working using traditional Japanese techniques, she has written a book to share her knowledge of indigo dyeing, published by Eyrolles under the title "La magie de l’Indigo". Caroline is one of the few dyers in France to grow her own dye plants, including several varieties of indigo. She is opening the gates to her dye garden, "Le Jardin de Sorcière", on Saturday 19 September in Targon, in the Entre-Deux-Mers region.
Her approach to Shibori is characterised by simplicity and minimalism; organic lines interplay with circular geometric patterns, but the essence lies in the interplay between the indigo and the light that emerges through the patterns. Indigo becomes a sensory experience, rather than merely a visual one, one in which the viewer can immerse themselves: stepping into the work, touching the fabric, seeing behind the scenes.
For this exhibition, Caroline presents a series of noren (dyed with fermented indigo on hemp muslin). A noren is a Japanese door consisting of vertical fabric panels. It defines spaces without obstructing the passage. Caroline’s norens are airy, light and fluid; the experience involves walking through the centre of them, immersing oneself in the blue. These norens require natural light to reveal their luminosity. Displaying them in a natural setting where the elements are ever-present became a natural choice. Whether exhibited in a garden, by the sea or in the mountains, they create new perspectives, engaging with the environment as well as with the bodies of the viewers: ‘We’d love to dance with them,’ said a visitor one day.
These three pieces form part of a larger collection of 12 noren, each of which stands alone; yet the noren are always in dialogue with one another, creating magical spaces and opening doors to another world.
Playing with shadows and light. Capturing the movements of a craftsman, a child’s smile, the details of a market stall. Thinking of the photograph, in terms of its composition, as a living canvas.
Since 2010, Marie-Laure Shioda has been striving to capture her emotions through her photographs. Whether she is travelling or going about her daily life in the Arcachon Basin, her deep connection with the environment shines through in her work. Self-taught, she mainly shoots with her Leica, lending her photographs a vintage feel.
Her aim: to inspire a sense of wonder. As the founder of Dokidoki Lab, she also infuses her textile creations with her own poetic sensibility, using mainly plant-based dyes and indigo blue.
For this exhibition, Marie-Laure presents a selection of photographs that bear witness to her immersion in the world of indigo in Japan: in September 2024, Marie-Laure took part in an indigo dyeing course in Japan, on the island of Shikoku. She spent a dozen days at the renowned Buaisou workshop, learning how to set up a traditional Japanese dye vat and various dyeing techniques. There, she captured the gestures, materials and shades of blue that defined this experience, with the sensitive and poetic eye that characterises her work.
From 10 to 12 September 2026
Katano Shibori Masterclass
In Bordeaux – Moon Creative Workspace, Atelier des Citernes, next to Saint-Jean railway station
A three-day immersive masterclass focusing on Katano Shibori, featuring the ‘Kikkou’, ‘Tatewaku’ and ‘Hotaru' patterns. In-depth approach, intensive practice.
Hours: 10 a.m.–5 p.m. (1-hour lunch break)
Capacity: 10 participants maximum
Level: intermediate to advanced
Language: English, with occasional translation into French, as required
Price: €450
Registration required!
This masterclass is now fully booked. You may contact us to be added to the wait list.
From 15 to 17 September 2026
Katano Shibori Masterclass
In Targon (35km from Bordeaux) – Jardin de Sorcière, Atelier Mademoiselle C.
Three-day immersive masterclass dedicated to Katano Shibori, featuring the "Kikamon Orinui" and "Seigaiha" patterns. In-depth approach, intensive practice.
Hours: 10 a.m.–5 p.m. (1-hour lunch break)
Capacity: 10 participants maximum
Level: intermediate to advanced
Language: English, with occasional translation into French, as required
Price: €450
Registration required!
This masterclass is now fully booked. You may contact us to be added to the wait list.
From 21 to 23 September 2026
Shirakage and Oogangi Shibori Masterclass
In Targon (35km from Bordeaux) – Jardin de Sorcière, Atelier Mademoiselle C.
Three-day immersive masterclass dedicated to Shirakage and Oogangi Shibori techniques. In-depth approach, intensive practice.
Hours: 10 a.m.–5 p.m. (1-hour lunch break)
Capacity: 10 participants maximum
Level: intermediate to advanced
Language: English, with occasional translation into French, as required
Price: €450
Registration required!
This masterclass is now fully booked. You may contact us to be added to the wait list.
Who is Makiko Tokunaga?
Makiko Tokunaga is a Shibori and indigo dye artist based in Naruto City, Tokushima, Japan, where she runs her studio, IndigoBlue4U. Her practice honors traditional Japanese techniques and a deep respect for nature and the past.
Makiko’s connection to indigo began through her mother, who enjoyed dyeing and Shibori as a hobby and nurtured her interest over the years. Later, Makiko had the opportunity to work in Tokushima, the historical birthplace of sukumo, the fermented indigo used in natural dyeing.
From 2019 to 2022, she participated in a municipal project dedicated to reviving the local indigo culture. During this time, she studied and mastered indigo cultivation, sukumo production, vat preparation, and Shibori dyeing under the guidance of master artisans who preserve these traditional methods.
In 2023, after her husband’s retirement, he joined her to support her growing studio and their shared commitment to offering valuable learning experiences in indigo and Shibori.
Next to the studio is a guesthouse where visitors can stay surrounded by her indigo-dyed textiles. It also features a small library with books and fabrics Makiko has collected for study and inspiration.
Makiko’s goal is to continue deepening her craft and to share the beauty of indigo and Shibori with those who seek to learn.
