About NUNO

Photo by Akira Matsumoto

Photo by Shigeki Nakajima

At Nuno—which is Japanese for fabric—we blend the traditional and the contemporary. Since our start in 1984, Nuno has worked exclusively with weavers and dyers in Japan, combining old practices with new technologies to create textiles that are original, distinctive, and fresh. We are honored that Nuno designs are in the collections of major museums around the world.
NunoWorks was launched in 2002 as a showcase for hand-printed textiles—silk-screened, stamped, or stenciled—that are bold and modern. As we go forward, our energies are focused on taking the next step for Nuno.

NUNOは、伝統と現代を紡ぎ、独自の布づくりをおこなっています。1984年の設立以来、日本各地に残る染織産地で新しい素材、技術を組み合わせ独創的な布地をつくり続けています。これまで制作した布地の数々は、世界各国の美術館に永久保存されています。
NUNO WORKSは、2002年にスタートしました。型染、シルクスクリーン、転写をはじめ、様々な捺染技法で仕上げる布づくりを展開し、大胆な構図、モダンな色使いが高く評価されています。
NUNO、NUNO WORKSがつくるテキスタイルは、伝統的な染織技術と現代のテクノロジーとが融合した「現代の布」づくりを目指しています。

Concept

At Nuno, textiles are our language, our inspiration, our aspiration. Textiles tell our story.
When we create our textiles, nature and tradition are woven with technology.
When we see our textiles, a moment of the future is glimpsed.
When we touch our textiles, they breathe and we feel at ease.
When we listen to the language of textiles, the message is beautiful.

私達NUNOがつくるテキスタイルは、「ことば」を越えた「ことば」と考えています。
人の皮膚に直接触れるテキスタイルは、皮膚を通して直接人の五感に働きかけ、豊かな情報を人に伝えます。
「今という時代の息吹き」、「時を経た伝統の薫り」、「新しい感性のぬくもり」、「未来を感じる肌触り」などなど。
言い尽くせない豊かな情報が、テキスタイルを通して直接人に伝わります。
私たちは、テキスタイルを「ことば」を越えた「ことば」と促え、テキスタイルを通して、テキスタイルと人、人と人との交流をより豊かに築いてゆきたいと考えています。

Photo by Sue McNab

History

1984
  • ・Nuno Corporation founded
  • ・Main shop opens in the AXIS Building, Roppongi in central Tokyo
  • ・Sapporo shop opens (later changed to Nuno Annex Sapporo)
  • ・Nuno Mise opens in Matsuya Ginza, Tokyo
  • ・Toyama retail corner opens
1986
  • ・Nuno Annex Kokura opens
1990
  • ・Showroom opens in D&D Building, New York (moved to San Diego in 2002)
  • ・Color, Light, Surface: Contemporary Fabrics, Cooper Hewitt Museum, New York
1994
  • ・Nuno Textile Centre established in Kiryu, Gunma
  • ・Japanese Fashion runway show, North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks
  • ・2010: Textiles and New Technology, UK Crafts Council, London
  • ・Japanese Design: A Survey Since 1950,　Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
1995
  • ・AXIS Building shop reopens after renovation
  • ・Roscoe Design Award for “Feather Flurries,” New York
1996
  • ・Textile Magician, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
1997
  • ・Nuno Nuno Books launched (first volume BORO BORO)
  • ・Nuno exhibition, Livingstone Studio, London
  • ・Material Culture conference keynote presentation, University of Kansas, Kansas City
1998
  • ・Retail corner opens in Sain AG, Bern, Switzerland
  • ・Structure and Surface: Contemporary Japanese Textiles, Museum of Modern Art, New York
1999
  • ・Japan Interior Designers Association JID Award for Nuno Nuno Books
  • ・Structure and Surface: Contemporary Japanese Textiles, Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri
2000
  • ・Structure and Surface: Contemporary Japanese Textiles, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco
  • ・Design World 2000, Museum of Art and Design, Helsinki
2001
  • ・Structure and Surface: Contemporary Japanese Textiles, Museum für angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt
  • ・Tradition and Innovation: Contemporary Textiles by Nuno Studio, University Art Museum, Santa Barbara
  • ・Nuno Sense & Skill, Kyoto Art Center
  • ・Nuno Sense & Skill, Shinjuku Park Tower, Tokyo
  • ・Structure and Surface: Contemporary Japanese Textiles, Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge
  • ・Contemporary Textile Weaving and Dyeing: Ways of Formative Thinking, National Museum of Modern Art Craft Gallery, Tokyo
2002
  • ・NUNO WORKS shop opens in Minami Aoyama, Tokyo (moved to Matsuya Ginza in 2012)
  • ・Material Things showroom opens, San Diego
  • ・Nuno Sense & Skill, Nobeoka Art Center, Miyazaki
  • ・Tradition and Innovation: Contemporary Textiles by Nuno, Fowler Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles
  • ・Magic and Mastery: Contemporary Japanese Textiles from Nuno, Museum of Art and Design, Atlanta
  • ・Convergence 2002 conference, Vancouver Convention Centre
  • ・Tradition and Innovation: Contemporary Textiles from Nuno, Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro
2003
  • ・Beyond the Surface: Japanese Style of Making Things, Singapore Art Museum / Cultural Center of the Philippines, Manila
2004
  • ・Maku, Curtin University, Perth, Australia / Israel Museum, Jerusalem
2005
  • ・Retail corner in Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi (changed to NUNO Ease shop in 2012)
  • ・2121: The textile vision of Reiko Sudo and Nuno, James Hockey Gallery, University for the Creative Arts, Surrey
2006
  • ・2121: The textile vision of Reiko Sudo and Nuno, UK National Centre for Craft and Design, Sleaford/Textile Kultur Haslach
2007
  • ・Mainichi Design Award for interior textiles for Mandarin Oriental Tokyo
  • ・2121: The textile vision of Reiko Sudo and Nuno, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg
  • ・Contemporary Japanese Textiles and Metal Works from Materials and Artistry to Forms, Tsukuba Museum of Art, Ibaraki
  • ・Nuno Circle - Reiko Sudo　Osaka Seikei University Art & Design Center, Kyoto
2008
  • ・Nuno kibiso, gallery anima, Osaka
  • ・Japan! Culture + Hyperculture 'Koi Currents' textile installation, John F.Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington DC
2009
  • ・Textile Spirit 'Archive & Design,' Spiral, Tokyo
  • ・Detour The Moleskine Notebook Experience MoMA Design Store, Tokyo
  • ・Japanese Cultural Month 'Travel in Your Mind,' Nordic House, Reykjavik
  • ・Japanese Sashiko Textiles, York Art Gallery, York / Collins Gallery, Glasgow
  • ・"Contemporary Japanese Fashion: The Mary Baskett Collection," Textile Museum, Washington D.C.
2010
  • ・Nuno Works retail website launched
  • ・WHY DESIGN NOW? National Design Triennial Cooper-Hewitt Design Triennial Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York
  • ・Japanese Sashiko Textiles, Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, Devon
  • ・Fabrics of Feathers and Steel: The Innovation of Nuno, Textile Museum, Washington DC
  • ・Warp and Weft, Oriel Myrddin Gallery, Wales
2011
  • ・Warp and Weft, National Wool Museum, Wales
  • ・Reiko Sudo - Nuno Circle, Pearlstein Gallery, Philadelphia
  • ・Japan: Tradition, Innovation, Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau, Québec
  • ・Fiber Future: Japan’s Textile Pioneers, Japan Society, New York
  • ・Kaunas Biennal: Textile 2011 “Rewind–Play-Forward”, M.K. Ciurlionis National Museum of Art, Kaunas
  • ・16th ETN Conference Rewind – Play – Forward, Kaunas
  • ・Bite-Size: Miniature Textiles from Japan and the UK, Japan House Gallery, London
  • ・Light and Architecture symposium, Kolding School of Design, Kolding
  • ・Lost in Lace: New Approaches by UK and International Artists, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham
2012
  • ・“Ito Jakuchu Inspired Exhibition,” Tokyo Designers Week, Tokyo
  • ・Japanese Style: Sustaining Design, Nuno Japanese Textiles: ZOKU ZOKU, Ruthin Craft Centre, Wales
  • ・Nuno Japanese Textiles: ZOKU ZOKU, Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh
2013
  • ・Material Innovations symposium and workshops, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
  • ・AgIdeas International Design Conference 2013, Melborne
  • ・Do You NUNO? 30 years of textiles we love! Matsuya Ginza Design Gallery 1953, Tokyo
  • ・Product Design Today: Creating “Made in Japan,” National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
2014
  • ・Flot de carpes - Koï Current, Musée Guimet, Paris
  • ・Reiko Sudo + NUNO, Mississippi Valley Textile Museum, Almonte, Ontario
  • ・Nani 布 ne?, GALLERY le bain, Tokyo
2015
  • ・Do You Nuno? to show in Sapporo 31 Years of Textiles We love!, Granvista Gallery Sapporo, Sapporo
  • ・2015 HANCOCK FELLOW: REIKO SUDO​, Australian Tapestry Workshop​, Melbourne
  • ・ITCC 2015 “Playful Vision: Reiko Sudo and Nuno’s Textile Imaginings”, Marmara University Cumhuriyet Museum, Istanbul
2016
  • ・Scraps: Fashion, Textiles, and Creative Reuse, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York
  • ・The Future of Japanese Tradition, Matsuya Ginza, Tokyo
2017
  • ・Do You Nuno? to show in Stockholm, Fiberspace Gallery, Stockholm
  • ・Fantasy in Japan Blue, Hall of States, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington D.C.
  • ・Scraps: Fashion, Textiles, and Creative Reuse, The Textile Museum, Washington D.C.
  • ・ScarffiauNunoZoku, Ruthin Craft Centre The Centre for the Applied Arts, Wales
  • ・Coded Threads Textiles & Technology, Western Gallery, Washington
  • ・Art and Design, dialogue with materials, Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design, Toyama
  • ・Binding Threads / Expanding Threads: The Art of Creating “Between-ness”, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima
2018
  • ・Ibaraki KougeitaizenIII Dyeing and weaving, Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum, Ibaraki
  • ・Koinobori Now! Installation by Reiko Sudo, Adrien Gardère and Seiichi Saito, The National Art Center, Tokyo
  • ・Tea Ceremony Fascination of Art and Design Marcel Wanders, Sudo Reiko, Miyake Mai : Swinmming Koinobori Installation by Reiko Sudo, Adrien Gardère, Oita Prefectural Art Museum, Oita
  • ・织.路 丝路织物艺术, Dunhuang Academy, Dunhuang
  • ・Scraps: Fashion, Textiles, and Creative Reuse, Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Center, California
2019
  • ・NUNO: Poética têxtil contemporânea, JAPAN HOUSE São Paulo, São Paulo
  • ・Secret Source of Inspiration: Designers’ Hidden Sketches and Mockups, 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT Gallery 1 & 2, Tokyo
  • ・Sudo Reiko: Making NUNO Textiles 須藤玲子：“ 布 ”之作業, CHAT (Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile), Hong Kong
2020
  • ・FABRIC：TOUCH＆IDENTITY 「Ogi no mai / Japanese Fanfare 2020」Compton Verney Art Gallery and Park,