Our Handpainted Silk Collection is the cornerstone of our company. With its rich heritage, slow production process, and luxurious materials, this collection features the best robes for feeling like a modern queen while connecting with historical, wearable art. It is unlike anything else we make, because it takes the tradition of the past and weaves them together with a vision of the future. There is truly nothing like it. So today in the journal, we’re sharing what makes this Handpainted Silk Collection unlike any other kimono robe you can find today.
Your Kimono Robe Has Taken Centuries to Make
History cannot be faked. When you slip into one of our Handpainted Silk Kimono Robes, you're not just putting on a piece of clothing — you're wearing thousands of years of tradition, artistry, and evolution. While today’s silhouettes may be updated for modern lives, the soul of the kimono dates back to the Han Dynasty in China, where its earliest form, known as hanfu, inspired more flowing robes and wider sleeves, often worn by scholars, artists, and nobles. Centuries later, these silhouettes influenced Japan’s kosode, the predecessor to the kimono as we know it, refined during the Heian period into a garment of poetic elegance and quiet symbolism. Every cut, every length of silk, every botanical motif in our modern kimono robes carries the heritage of that tradition. The kimono has long symbolized beauty, mindfulness, and personal identity. Even today, Japanese artisans train for years, sometimes decades, to master traditional textile techniques. Our kimono robes are produced from techniques passed down orally from generation to generation. The traditional techniques are not something you can learn without being a part of the culture and understanding the richness of these beautiful Asian traditions. In our work, we honor both Chinese and Japanese influences, weaving history into every stitch. The power of heritage can’t be copied. That’s why we believe: It’s not just a silky robe. It’s a wearable piece of history.
Your Handpainted Silk Kimono Robe is in Good Hands
In a world that celebrates speed, we move slowly on purpose. Our signature Handpainted Silk Collection is the embodiment of intentional beauty. Just like it has taken our artisans time to learn these traditional techniques, it takes seven full days to complete just one of these silky robes. The time put into how to make your kimono robe is just as important as the high quality materials we use. Good things take time. And creating something meaningful should never be rushed. If you’re wondering how to make a kimono robe, here’s a brief explanation of what our talented artisans do over a seven-day period.
Day 1: Design & Sketching
Our co-founders, sisters Renee and Tiffany Tam, design all of our beautiful botanical designs in house. Then our team of talented artisans transfer the initial sketches onto the fabric using soft chalk, taking care to align every detail with the way the robe will drape over the body.
Day 2: Outlining the Design
Artists trace the contours of each shape with sumi ink. These outlines serve as the skeleton of the design.
Day 3: Base Coloring
The fabric is suspended in a sunlit workshop to let it breathe. Then, our artists begin building the base colors with delicate brushstrokes, allowing each hue to set naturally. This ensures the pigments won’t bleed or fade.
Day 4: Layering & Shading
Layer by layer, depth and dimension are added through gradient brushstroke techniques and shading, transforming flat color into a design that’s rich and resonant.
Day 5: Detailing & Highlights
Then the artisans add gold accents, symbolic shapes, and intricate details that reflect the themes of the design. Every highlight is considered, placed, and then evaluated for balance.
Day 6: Quality Check, Fixation & Setting
Our team of artisans review every inch of the kimono robe design to ensure consistency and integrity. Colors are heat-set, steam-treated, and sealed with a fabric fixative — techniques that protect the robe for extended wear.
Day 7: Final Touches
Finally, the fabric is smoothed with low heat and carefully packaged.
This is how to make a kimono robe with intention and quality at the forefront. It’s not mass-produced, but methodically, mindfully, and lovingly.
Photo by Ashley Streff
Your Feedback, a New Life
In the past year, we changed the collection to be Limited Edition. That’s because the kimono production process was becoming harder and harder to maintain, as it deserved a level of artisanship that necessitated certain tools and production requirements which were becoming harder to source. Due to those uncertainties, our producing team alerted us that they were no longer able to create these handpainted pieces.
When we announced the limited nature of the Handpainted Silk Collection, we received so much feedback to do what we could to keep it going. You have loved sharing these long silky robes with the people in your life as treasured gifts. You told us these are the best robes for your biggest celebrations of life and smallest moments of self care. Your feedback about how much you loved these silky robes encouraged us to find a creative (and sustainable) way to continue. Because we have maintained a strong decades-long partnership with our team of artisans in China’s Silk Village, we were able to talk through all the different possibilities and come up with some unique and unexpected solutions together. We had to move production locations and restructure our timelines, but also needed to do this without giving up on our principles of fair wages, safe and healthy working conditions, and ethical production practices.
And now we’re thrilled to share with you, we found a way.
Thanks to your love of these long silky robes, this artful collection now has a future. We’ve preserved everything you fell in love with — slow production, heritage-rich design, luxurious quality — all while ensuring our workers are cared for and our environmental impact is minimized.
Our Commitment to Ethical Practices in the Art of Making a Kimono Robe
We believe taking care should be the foundation of everything we do — not just in the kimono robes we make, but in how to make kimono robes. That means our workers earn real living wages. They have opportunities for advancement, creative input, and time off to care for themselves and their families. It also means that when we choose materials, processes, and packaging, we’re thinking about the full lifecycle of the products we make. From the first brushstroke to the moment you tie your sash, we’ve considered how these silky robes impact our planet.
In full transparency, we’ve chosen methods that cost more because they align with our values: minimal waste, increasingly paperless operations, and materials that are as gentle on the earth as they are on your skin. The Handpainted Silk Collection is our highest price-point collection. It represents the peak of what we can offer. It’s the absolute best robe for the collector, the art enthusiast, or the slow-living individual who believes self care is sacred.
Ethics aren’t extras for us. They’re the backbone of every choice we make. They’re in the seven days of handwork, centuries of heritage, and the voices of our community. Our pieces are a celebration of human artistry over automation, a symbol of culture over convenience. Each kimono robe is a legacy that’s draped over your shoulders, flowing with symbolism, beauty, and care. More than anything, we hope that when you wear something made with this much love and intention, you feel it. Every time.
