Bristol-based
designer, Claire Muskett, set up her company, Ukiyo-Go, to introduce the Haramaki to a European audience. As someone
who suffers from poor circulation and therefore always feels the cold, she spent many winters with a scarf wrapped
around her waist to keep her warm. One day, her natural interest in Japanese history delivered her a chance solution - the
Haramaki, which she found in a book about Samurai. She immediately set about trying to find herself a modern day version and
her research revealed that, while they did exist, they were very difficult to get hold off outside Japan and so she decided
to start making her own. Claire's handmade haramaki remain true to their origins but have been injected with a new
life to make them both useful and desirable to a broader audience. So far, this includes Holistic Practitioners
and their patients, pregnant women, people who work outdoors and cyclists. Claire's grounding in art and natural
instinct for design have also led to her haramaki being a quirky must-have fashion item.
