Monday shop post: Ziguzagu

On Saturday I spent almost two hours browsing the wonderful Ziguzagu with my sister Jacky and her sweet friend Nat - they are both taking part in a fabric weaving course and wanted to check out the vintage Japanese textiles at the Ziguzagu. This amazing warehouse is located behind an obscure door in a very narrow street in Richmond (7-11Hill Street) - honestly, if you didn't know it was there you would walk right past this treasure trove of furniture and fabrics.

As the Ziguzagu site explains, the business "specialises in the importation and sale of vintage Japanese textiles, garments and dress accessories...Ziguzagu serves as a natural complement to our parent company, long time dealers in Japanese antiquities, furniture and textiles, Kazari."  The warehouse is divided into two sections - one side contains numerous pieces of Japanese furniture:

The other side of the warehouse is brim full of kimonos, textiles, books etc.:

Here's just a taste of the little piece of Japan that is contained within the four walls of Ziguzagu...

Books - all in Japanese of course, but the pictures were extaordinarily beautiful.

Silk floor cushions - you can't tell from the picture, but these are obscenely large floor cushions.

Apparently these are obi ties. Lots of gorgeous vibrant colours to match the equally vibrant kimonos.

These are Japanese ceramic weaving weights - used for purely decorative purposes here.

This is an indigo patchwork quilt made from vintage kimonos - it wasn't on display in the warehouse, but I can only imagine that it would be a truly beautiful piece.

And of course, there were reams and reams of fabrics/textiles.  My sister and Nat didn't leave empty-handed, they bought metres and metres of beautiful fabric...

And I didn't walk out of Ziguzagu empty-handed either... I bought a gorgeous little Japanese cabinet that is designed to sit on a desk top - it has two large drawers and a storage space at top with lovely little sliding doors. The cabinet wasn't in particularly good condition, but with a bit of TLC it will be wonderful. I have bought this lovely little piece for my sister and she tells me that she is going to store her paints in it. I know that this sweet little storage cabinet will be well-loved and looked after for years to come.

[Images courtesy of Ziguzagu]