I guess I'll just throw some photos up here. Are you getting the sense I don't really know what I'm doing? Bear with me, this will all look brilliant some day. For now, there's a distinct lack of content. There is also a distinct lack of visitors to this site. So. We are at a standoff. You don't happen to know about ten thousand other people who'd be interested in signing up, do you? While you're at it, ask them to buy my book.
I don't know what this page is supposed to be. Room to grow, I suppose. I'll probably change the title at some point.
This is a fantastic haori we collected. It has good length, like a Taisho era piece, but the condition is too good. I suspect it is, as the kimono dealers would say, "sen-zen, sen-go" (before or after the war). Can't be much more specific than that, though I can tell you, they are talking about World War Two, which was rather a big deal in Japan. This haori has the most gorgeous hand embroidered phoenix in multi colors which invoke a Hokusai crane I saw in a museum once. I can say, I've handles tens of thousands of kimonos over the years. There was a rumor in the auction markets in Kyoto a few years ago, which I can't confirm, that I was the biggest seller of kimonos in the world, outside Japan (though a very small fish in Japan). But I have never seen another one like this.
What makes it unique is the self, the textile that all the artwork and embroidery was done to, which is a patchwork of various kimono silk textiles, mostly jacquards. Some are shibori, as you can see. They are not patched by overlaying and stitching down, as in aquilt. They are actually cut with genius accuracy and lain edge-to-edge, then the seems are fully embroidered over, in such a way that you really have to stare at it for a long time before you figure out it's a jigsaw puzzle. The yuzen artwork and embroidery are top notch.
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Here's a detail of yuzen artwork from a tomesode we once owned. Its a group of shoujo, Japanese water spirits. Sorry, it's a bit blurry. If I ever sell my book about elves, I will buy this kimono back. Shoujo can tiptoe across the water. They're very great drinkers, and they make a magical sake that can cure all ailments. They have red hair and they drink the sake out of cups the size of satellite dishes.
Here is an ad that my daughter Isabella put together for my wife's store in Healdsburg. Isabella is editor of her high school newspaper and was the inspiration for all three Silver sisters in my book, Hearts & Other Body Parts. I suppose it got mentioned somewhere or other on this website. It's really a fantastic store, and Healdsburg is right in the middle of wine country in Sonoma County, where some of the best pinot noir in the world is made. There are also a bunch of really fine restaurants. I can't recommend the town, or the store, highly enough. Seriously. I'm not getting rich in the book business, so far, so go to Healdsburg for the wine tasting, shopping and food. If you're going to drink, don't shop. If you're going to shop, don't drink. If you really feel compelled to drink and shop, do it at our store.