BLOCK PRINTING TECHNIQUE
Kozii is the result of many years of thorough research and travelling around the world, seeking to uncover exclusive materials, printing or weaving techniques, giving in this way birth to an organically born sustainable brand.
Amongst other processes used and experimented by Kozii, Block Printing, remains, undoubtedly, its star technique. Woodblock printing on textiles is the process of printing patterns onto fabrics, usually of linen, cotton or silk, by means of incised wooden blocks. It is the earliest, simplest and slowest of all methods of textile printing, capable of yielding highly artistic results, some of which are unobtainable by any other method.
There is evidence that it was practiced as early as the fifth century BC, with actual fragments found from as early as the fifteenth century in India, China and Japan.
In printmaking, the drawings are hand carved into rosewood blocks which are then used as stamps to transfer the prints onto the fabrics. It is necessary only to ink the block and bring it into firm and even contact with the cloth to achieve the desired print. For color printing, multiple blocks are used, each for one color, often creating vibrant prints and vivid palette s.
Even though block printing by hand is an extremely slow art form, it is capable of yielding highly creative results, some of which unobtainable by any other method. Still today, and for this same reason, many artists develop their work taking on these traditional techniques in their work in contemporary modern art.
In these changing times, it is important to remember that no project makes sense if it doesn’t create some kind of sustainable network that closely safeguards all the people involved and its environmental impact along the production process. While investing on ancient block printing techniques and in working collaboratively with a skilled team of printers in designing and producing its collections, Kozii promotes a synergy between design, development and sustainability, while inspiring good business practices and the continuing revitalization of traditional skills.
Kozii’s collections most usually make a special reverence to this ancient hand printing technique while upkeeping Kozii’s very own geometric style, two characteristics that have made Kozii’s aesthetic identity so easily distinguishable year-round.