Liberty has historically been shaped by a long-standing respect and passion for Japanese design.
In 1889, Emma Liberty and her husband Arthur took a trip to Japan that deepened their love for the country’s unparalleled artisanship and creative heritage. Emma, an avid photographer kept a pictorial record of their journey which was made into a leather bound journal that remains in our archive today.
The creative bond between Liberty and Japan remains unbroken to the present day – since 1988, a team of Liberty designers based in Tokyo have helped to maintain this exchange of artistic ideas with Liberty’s London design studio. The new Liberty Fabrics collection ‘From Japan With Love’ honours this admiration for the creativity and craftsmanship of the Japanese arts.
Enriching the Liberty archive and maintaining the historic practice of working with independent creatives, the Liberty design team collaborated with eight contemporary artists working within a wide range of graphics, textiles and fine art mediums to showcase the broad diversity of Japanese design.
The Liberty Fabrics design team transformed these diverse artworks into beautiful new fabric prints. Each finished print reflects a different influential facet of Japanese art and design, celebrating our respect and admiration for this culturally captivating country.