Wednesday, September 01, 2004

Ichiroya Kimono Flea Market!

Yesterday I was browsing one of my favourite websites, where I normally buy kimono and other lovely Japanese goods, like fabrics and so on... The site is www.ichiroya.com and they offer a truly awesome selection of kimono, geta, silk bolts, cotton bolts, yukata etc. Ichiroya is run by a lovely couple, Ichiro San and his wife Yuka San, from beautiful Osaka, along with their wonderful, helpful staff. They are a great authority in kimono matters indeed and, every Sunday, they do publish a fantastic newsletter, which is a treasure for whoever is interested in Japan, their culture and facts.

Some months ago I bought some vintage fabric samples from them, brought it to Rio and asked Cenira, who is a fantastic seamstress, to make some little cushions for my neko. My Mother bought some ribbons and tassles in the habberdashery, and we came up with lovely designs for the cushions.

I brought it to Dublin and took some pics of some of my neko sitting on the cushions. I sent it to Yuka San and Ichiro San and they have published it in the Ichiroya's photo album! It's so cool, I loved it! My neko now are famous, real "top models"! I was so happy to see them there! Have a look at them in Ichiroya's page here:

http://www.ichiroya.com/enjoyphotoalbum/mamekineko.htm

Yuka San and Ichiro San have a Photo Album space where they publish photographs of their customers and their kimonos, including handicraft, obi displays, kimono displays of course, and kitsuke (or "how to wear"). It's great. They also receive piles of wonderful pieces everyday and post their photographs every night! Lots of work involved! They do ship everywhere, and it's all very easy, since you can use Paypal and they can dispatch it via EMS, if you wish. It's so fast, you wouldn't believe it! And the service is amazing, they are always ready to help you, a real gem to deal with.

But what I really adore there is their newsletters. They are all super interesting, and it's a joy reading them. That's why I wait for it so anxiously every Sunday! If you wish to subscribe, you just need to join their Mail List. It's really, really cool!