Japanese Textile: Now and Investible Asset Class?

In Collaboration with American Chambers of Commerce (ACCJ), we host the the first arts program for 2021.  It is something new from the ACCJ Alternative Investment Committee (AIC) on textile as an alternative investment.

While we have all admired the beauty and creativity of Japanese kimono and textiles, investing in Japanese textiles is an exacting business. We are pleased to welcome one of the world’s leading experts on the subject, Sharon Takeda, a senior curator and the head of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) costume and textiles department, to shed some light on the lavish tapestry of this sought-after form of Japanese art.

Takeda will provide an overview of the richness of Japanese textiles that can serve as a guideline for savvy investors, and also—for the philanthropic-minded among us—explain the possibilities available to assist august institutions such as LACMA as they invest in the timeless beauty of the craft for the benefit and education of generations to come.

This discussion, introduced by AIC Vice-Chair Deborah Hayden, will provide some interesting insights into the world of Japanese art as we whet your appetites for what we hope will be a more exciting year, one that leaves behind the challenges we have all endured in 2020. 

Please join us in what promises to be a very inspiring discussion.

NOTE 1: This event is ON THE RECORD.

NOTE 2: Please note that, as with all guest presentations, the content and comments of the speakers reflect their own opinions and do not necessarily represent the opinions or policies of the ACCJ. 

• Guest Fee: ¥1,200 – Please register via Guest Link
• Registration/Cancellation Deadline: Tuesday, January 26 at 16:00 

About the Speaker
Sharon Sadako Takeda 

A third-generation Japanese-American, Sharon Sadako Takeda has been senior curator and head of LACMA’s Costume and Textiles Department since 2000 and has been associated with the museum since 1987. 

She began her career in textiles in 1976 as a teaching assistant at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and has held numerous positions as lecturer and guest curator at universities and museums in the United States.

She graduated with a master of arts from UCLA and was the recipient of a 1983–84 Monbukagakusho (now MEXT) scholarship to Japan, where she studied traditional Japanese dyeing and weaving techniques at the Kanazawa University of Arts and Crafts and conducted field research in Niigata Prefecture on a traditional snow-bleached textile designated an Intangible Cultural Property.

At LACMA, Takeda has curated numerous record-breaking innovative exhibitions, many of which traveled to museums around the world. These included:

Reigning Men: Fashion in Menswear 1715–2015Kimono for a Modern Age; 

Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail 1700–1915

Miracles and Mischief: Noh and Kyogen Theatre in Japan

Japonism in Fashion: The Influence of Japan on Western Dress

Moon, Snow, and Flowers: The Four Seasons in Japanese Painting and Textiles

The Fabric of Life: Japanese Folk Textiles

Across the Seas: Textiles and the Meeting of Cultures

She also curated When Art Became Fashion: Kosode in Edo-Period Japan, which sourced priceless kimono from public and private collections in Japan and the United States, triggering jumbo-jetloads of Japanese artisans, scholars, and kimono-clad ladies to fly to Los Angeles to glimpse treasures typically unseen in their home country.