VISION

In Japan, we call “to live” or “to create living“,  i-shoku-jyu. Literally clothing-food-home. These are the three pillars that form the Japanese art of living. It’s fibers, dyes, and textiles. Agriculture, cookery, and waterways. Architectural structures, gardens, and furnishings.

Farmed or foraged local natural resources that take shape through heritage practices and techniques, become the materials of i-shoku-jyu to support, ease, or enhance living. They are innately environmentally and socially responsible, and serve as vital hints for how we may live more sustainability, no matter where we call home.

Kyoto Research Institute is poised to lead the world in the appraisal, documentation, and responsible proliferation of ancestral Japanese materials. It is researching the practical application of these materials that is at the heart of our Institute.