Collaboration Builds Upon 10-Year Partnership Between UNIQLO and the MFA
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), and global apparel retailer UNIQLO announced today a series of monthly art-making activities taking place from April through October at UNIQLO’s Faneuil Hall and Newbury Street locations in Boston. This collaboration builds upon a 10-year partnership between the Museum and UNIQLO—a longtime supporter of arts and culture—that was established in 2017.UNIQLO became part of the Boston community in fall 2015 at historic Faneuil Hall, with five additional store openings that followed, including a location on Newbury Street.
Since the launch of UNIQLO’s partnership with the MFA in the fall of 2017, educators from the Museum have hosted a range of art-making activities that are free and open to the public at the company’s stores throughout Massachusetts.
This new series from April through October will consist of two sessions each month at UNIQLO locations, with a different theme and activity that celebrates Japanese art and culture. In April, MFA art instructors will lead UNIQLO visitors in an activity inspired by katagami, hand-carved paper stencils traditionally used to dye cotton, silk or other textiles for Japanese garments. Attendees will have the opportunity to create a stenciled design on silk scarves using fabric inks and patterns from the MFA’s collection. In May, in honor of Kodomo no Hi, or Children’s Day, attendees will be invited to create their own Koinobori carp streamers with carp windsock materials, ribbon, glue dots and fabric markers. Subsequent art-making activities will focus on kanzashi (ornamental hair pins) in June; printmaking inspired by hanakotoba (the language of flowers) in July; woodblock printmaking inspired by the MFA’s collection of works by Katsushika Hokusai, Utagawa Hiroshige I, Utagawa Kunisada and Tōshūsai Sharaku in August; kusudama (origami flowers) in September; and komori (foldable fans) in October.
The full schedule of activities is as follows:
April – Katagami
- 4/6 Faneuil Hall
- 4/20 Newbury Street
May – Koinobori for Children’s Day (actual holiday on May 5)
- 5/4 Faneuil Hall
- 5/11 Newbury Street
June – Kanzashi
- 6/1 Faneuil Hall
- 6/22 Newbury Street
July – Hanakotoba
- 7/6 Faneuil Hall
- 7/20 Newbury Street
August – Woodblock Prints
- 8/3 Faneuil Hall
- 8/17 Newbury Street
September – Kusudama
- 9/7 Faneuil Hall
- 9/21 Newbury Street
October – Komori
- 10/5 Faneuil Hall
- 10/19 Newbury Street
UNIQLO additionally supports a variety of new programs celebrating Japanese art and culture at the MFA, including Junior Artists, a weekly drop-in art-making session for families; an MFA Family Guide in Japanese; and the annual Boston Festival of Films from Japan (BFFJ). The second edition of the festival, which highlights the best recent films produced in Japan and has become one of MFA Film’s most popular series, took place in February 2019.
About the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), is recognized for the quality and scope of its collection, representing all cultures and time periods. The Museum has more than 140 galleries displaying its encyclopedic collection, which includes Art of the Americas; Art of Europe; Contemporary Art; Art of Asia; Art of Africa and Oceania; Art of Ancient Greece and Rome; Art of Ancient Egypt, Nubia and the Near East; Prints and Drawings; Photography; Textile and Fashion Arts; and Musical Instruments. Open seven days a week, the MFA’s hours are Saturday through Tuesday, 10 am–5 pm; and Wednesday through Friday, 10 am–10 pm. Admission (which includes one repeat visit within 10 days) is $25 for adults and $23 for seniors and students age 18 and older, and includes entry to all galleries and special exhibitions. Admission is free for University Members and youths age 17 and younger. Wednesday nights after 4 pm admission is by voluntary contribution (suggested donation $25), while five Open Houses offer the opportunity to visit the Museum for free. The Museum’s mobile MFA Guide is available at ticket desks and the Sharf Visitor Center for $5, members; $6, non-members; and $4, youths. The Museum is closed on New Year’s Day, Patriots’ Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. The MFA is located on the Avenue of the Arts at 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115. For more information, call 617.267.9300, visit mfa.org or follow the MFA on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
About UNIQLO LifeWear
Apparel that comes from the Japanese values of simplicity, quality and longevity. Designed to be of the time and for the time, LifeWear is made with such modern elegance that it becomes the building blocks of each individual’s style. A perfect shirt that is always being made more perfect. The simplest design hiding the most thoughtful and modern details. The best in fit and fabric made to be affordable and accessible to all. LifeWear is clothing that is constantly being innovated, bringing more warmth, more lightness, better design, and better comfort to people’s lives.
About Fast Retailing
UNIQLO is a brand of Fast Retailing Co., Ltd., a leading Japanese retail holding company with global headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. UNIQLO is the largest of six main brands in the Fast Retailing Group, the others being GU, J Brand, Theory, Comptoir des Cotonniers, and Princesse tam.tam. With global sales of approximately 2.13 trillion yen for the 2018 fiscal year ending August 31, 2018 (US $19.17 billion, calculated in yen using the end of August 2018 rate of $1 = 111.1 yen), Fast Retailing is one of the world’s largest apparel retail companies, and UNIQLO is Japan’s leading specialty retailer.
UNIQLO continues to open large-scale stores in some of the world's most important cities and locations, as part of its ongoing efforts to solidify its status as a global brand. Today the company has more than 2,000 stores in 21 markets including Japan. In alphabetical order, the other markets are Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Netherlands, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, U.K. and U.S. In addition, UNIQLO established a social business in Bangladesh together with the Grameen Bank in 2010, and today there are several Grameen-UNIQLO stores in Dhaka.
With a corporate statement committed to changing clothes, changing conventional wisdom and change the world, Fast Retailing is dedicated to creating great clothing with new and unique value to enrich the lives of people everywhere. For more information about UNIQLO and Fast Retailing, please visit www.uniqlo.com and www.fastretailing.com.
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