A distinctive velvet, of which only 15 cm can be woven in a day

“Mon-birodo (patterned velvet)” is a woven fabric that makes use of the different characteristics expressed by (1) Pile (a looped yarn) and (2) Cut pile (cut from looped yarn).

“Mon-birodo” is said to have been brought to Japan around the 16th century. It had been introduced from Spain and Portugal, which Japan was trading with at the time. Due to its beauty and rarity, the samurai had apparently used it to make mantles and other items to demonstrate and boast of their power.

As no one in Japan was able to uncover the method for weaving “mon-birodo” for more than a century, all the “mon-birodo” available in the market were imports.

However, the weaving method was revealed when the copper wire, which should have been removed during the production process, was accidentally left in some of the “mon-birodo” imported around the mid-17th century. This sparked the start of the production of “mon-birodo” in Japan, and Kyoto was the place where it all began.

“Mon-birodo” uses two types of warp yarn ((1) A yarn to make the base section of the fabric; (2) A yarn to make the pile)). Satin fabric is used for the base while wire is used in the pile section to create height, and loops are then produced.

Once the fabric has been completed, the yarn is cut from the top of the wire, and the velvet section is made. If the yarn is retained as a part of the pile, it is left uncut while the wire is removed.

Our company is the only company in Japan that is able to create three-dimensional patterns on the satin using pile and velvet. Special techniques are needed to produce “mon-birodo,” and only 15 cm of the fabric can be woven in a day. In addition to the weaving technique, our company is also passing on the second difficult technique of cutting the velvet to the next generation.