There are things you fall in love with straight away - that's what happened to us with these towels when our Japanese supplier Murakami Pile conjured the patterns out of a suitcase. With their bold colors and unusual design for terry towels, they remind us of art prints that would just as well deserve a place on the wall. However, the quality of the material and workmanship and not least their origin clearly predestine them for the bathroom.

Bathroom textiles from Imabari - recognizable by the typical sewn-in label - enjoy a worldwide reputation and are characterized by all kinds of special textile features. These include the long loops of the terry fabric, which are available in different colors in the mottled area of the towel. Genuine terry towelling is somewhat more complex to produce anyway because it is woven with three thread systems (warp, weft and loop). The multi-colored loops therefore require not just one, but two differently colored loop yarns - similar to the multicolor terry towels from Murakami Pile. The towels also impress with their non-slip, highly absorbent fabric, which dries excellently and also dries again quickly. And perhaps you have a long towel rail on which the shower or hand towel can be hung in its full width, then it is ultimately: art in the bathroom.

60% of towels in Japan are made in the Japanese town of Imabari, in Ehime Prefecture, in the north of Shikoku Island. There are 4,000 looms per less than 160,000 inhabitants here, including over 120 companies that are allowed to produce towels under the "Imabari Towel" quality label. The water used for bleaching the textiles comes from underground flowing springs that are particularly low in lime and heavy metals, especially from the Sōja River - a circumstance that has indirectly promoted the concentration of companies producing bathroom textiles. The use of the soft water makes the towels particularly pliable and at the same time allows dyes to penetrate deep into the textile fibers. The result: exceptionally soft and intensely colored linens. It has always been a tradition in the region around Imabari to support pilgrims who are on the 1,200 km long Shikoku pilgrimage route (one of the most important Buddhist pilgrimage routes) with food, money, but also just towels on their journey - and this hospitality should also be reflected in the texture of the textiles produced here.

One of the mandatory quality criteria for "Imabari Towels" concerns the ability to absorb water: a 1 × 1 cm piece of the fabric must be able to sink to the bottom in the water within five seconds - an indication that the towel is able to absorb water and also other liquids without prior washing. Accordingly, Imabari Towels are characterized by absorbing moisture extremely quickly.