“At the exhibition in Kaluga, I am going to display a summer yukata kimono which I sewed with my grandmother years ago. She was born in 1905 when Japanese women wore kimonos in daily life and could sew them. One day, I decided to learn how to make kimonos. My grandmother picked up butterfly pattern fabric for me. We made the kimono pretty quickly because all the patterns were straight. Now, we only wear kimonos on special occasions, so I dedicate my prints to it.”

Keiko Kobayashi's engravings are made on wood in the mokhanga technique. This relief color printing technique preserves the texture of the wood and reproduces the depth of various shades. Each color is cut on a separate wood board and then printed on the same sheet of paper or fabric. Depending on the material characteristics, the colors overlap in a certain way, which creates unique combinations of shades.