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Museum stores often work with the smallest of businesses run by people who travel the world to curate selections of goods, artists who ply their trade as providers of the unique and beautiful, and entrepreneurs who create fair trade businesses to support small communities with dignified and humane work. Let us take some time to reflect, review and give you a peek at how things find their way into our museum store.
The JANM mission statement:
The mission of the Japanese American National Museum is to promote understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese American experience.
Everything we offer at janmstore.com is related to this mission. Sometimes that connection is not as obvious as others, but it is there.
There are many arts and crafts that were solely produced by Japanese artisans, but with the passing of generations, many traditional crafts that were produced by families in Japan have passed out of existence by virtue of the change from an agricultural-based economy to one based on industry and technology. But there are other places and people who look to those fading Japanese traditional arts as inspiration for new works of functional and fine art. We are happy to feature these works which are sourced from places other than Japan, as a reminder of the past and also to be an inspiration to the future. And in some cases sourcing something like indigo-dyed goods from other places serves as an example of how cultures are connected--African tie-dye and Japanese shibori; Japanese kasuri weaving and Indian ikat.
We hope you will visit this blog again and learn more about the JANM store. And keep an eye out for the launch of our Instagram account. Thank you for your loyalty and continued support. Stay well!
Maria Kwong
Author