Can I Borrow Your Boro?

Fabulous Japanese Boro on show at Somerset House. Very rare opportunity to see so many of these unique textiles in one place.

Boro is a traditional method of patching used by poor people who increased the longevity of bed covers etc by repairing them with small patches of cotton. Dealers collected such scraps from shipped deliveries and sold them on to those who needed them. The limited colour range is due to the restriction of hues people were allowed to wear. Only the rich and the high ranking we entitled to brighter coloured clothing.