Lynn Elzinga-Henry Artist/Designer

In 1974, I travelled to Japan for a year that would transform my life. As a third year student of Japanese at Swinburne University I was ostensibly there to study the language, but somehow, the magic of Kyoto filled me with a desire to become an artist.

A friend took me to visit a Kimono factory where each level of the building was devoted to one segment of the creation of a Kimono. From design,

handpainting, printing and embellishing to the creation of the final piece the building was laid out like a story. There was even a tiled river running through one level where the fabric was washed after the dyeing had taken place and huge wooden steamers that looked like swedish saunas.

But it was the incredible beauty of the fabric produced using an old traditional technique 'Uzen zome' that had me mesmerized. I had to know how that was done. I suddenly knew what I really wanted to do with my life. And so began my journey.....