Friendship

Dimensions: 26" x 36"
Materials: #3-cut Dorr's natural wool cloth, #5- and #6-cut as-is cloth, and hand-spun yarn on rug warp
Designed and hooked by Fumiyo Hachisuka, Tokyo, Japan, 2015.
Featured in: Celebration 27

In 2014, I visited Milton, Australia, to attend a spinning workshop held by Miriam Miller. It was my first time spinning, and my friend and teacher Jacqui Thomson was kind and eager to teach me. It took me a few days to spin as my thread wasn't very smooth, but I caught on, little by little. It's a previous memory for me. I decided to paint this scene as the suibokuga (East Asian black ink painting) for the spring exhibition, and I used the sketch as the pattern to make this rug.

The most challenging part for me was getting the spinning wheel just right. I don't have a spinning wheel of my own, so it was difficult to capture the shape properly. I referenced books and catalogues to get everything looking just right. While it was difficult to hook the faces since they're so small, my favorite part of the rug is the figure of Jacqui. I wanted to capture how gracious and kind she was, and I'm pleased with how it turned out.
- Fuimyo Hachisuka, Celebration Hall of Fame 2018
(Note: This rug description was taken as an excerpt from the published Celebration entry.)