Walking into the main exhibition hall on the second floor of the Nihon Mingeikan (Japan Folkcrafts Museum) in Tokyo's Komaba, re-creates the startling impression Hiroko Iwatate received when she first went to India 37 years ago.
"I was in this desert area near the northwestern border with Pakistan. All I could see were dazzling colors against endless blue skies, harsh sun and bone-dry sand. As different to Japan as could be imagined. That was when I fell in love."
It was also when she began collecting antique and vintage Indian textiles. Not pieces created as art, but ordinary items — clothing, rugs, quilts, curtains — utilizing skills, techniques and designs passed down by generations of women over the centuries.