The Komori 2018 calendar “Grace in color”

We are proud to announce that the new 2018 Komori calendar is out and that it is even more special this year than the previous ones.

The Komori 2018 calendar was produced using an underlying tone of colorful bingata, the traditional Okinawan dyeing technique - where red is the primary color, with green, blue and yellow also used in dyeing the patterns on cotton and fine linen. From the desire to reproduce this technique in print, Komori achieved a collaboration of dyeing and printing. Grace in Color, the title of the calendar, implies refinement in color, and the calendar itself broadly expresses Komori’s corporate evolution.    

Carrying on from last year, the cover was printed by the Impremia IS29 digital printing system. The inside pages were printed entirely by H-UV offset (Lithrone GX40 and Lithrone S40). Against a background of vivid special colors, the distinctive bingata motifs selected from Ms. Arakaki’s works are in the center, and the principal motif is made to stand out more by decorative printing (emphasis by patterns of full-area varnish and coating, backgrounds of matte quality and granular patterns, and thin line patterns in a motif that reminds one of cloth). For the binding, a screen printing technique from Seria Corporation, a Komori Group company, was used for the first time in this edition of the calendar.

The Artist

Yuuka ARAKAKI was born in 1985 in Naha, Okinawa. After discovering the traditional dyeing technique known as bingata, she found herself enraptured by their vibrant, never-fading colours. She decided then to become a bingata artist. Arakaki won the top prize at the Ryugin Bingata Design Contest for two years running, in 2011 and 2012. 

You can find more information on the Komori 2018 calendar (including detailed description of printing technique) at special Komori Calendar website and Video of the printing process !