Interview with Silent Teddy Bear on Shibari, BDSM, and Erotic Art in Hungary – A Sakunawa Gallery Interview on Japanese Sensual Shibari Art Bondage
- sakunawagallery
- Apr 23
- 7 min read
Can you tell us about your journey from your home country to Hungary? What was it like adjusting to life here, and how did your perspective on shibari evolve along the way?
My journey began as a surprising coincidence that opened the door for me to discover the Hungarian community. I was attending, as a guest, a BDSM camp in Romania with a former girlfriend of mine. Just as we arrived, I was asked to hold a few workshops on shibari. That was going to be the first time I would teach my style to a group. It went great, and I made an impression on another guest who turned out to be the organiser of the Hungarian BDSM Conference. He invited me as a presenter to the conference, which was the biggest kink event I had ever attended, with an eye-opening variety of topics I could enrich myself with and lots of open-minded and friendly people I could make friends with.
Since then, I have been a presenter at the conference for 3 more years, and I decided to host shibari workshops on my own in the gaps between the conferences. These events helped me meet play partners with whom I had exciting new experiences. We went to play parties in Budapest together, and they helped me organise more workshops and even served as my model there.
My world had expanded, and I felt comfortable coming back to Hungary, even when I was again single. Happily, I met my current girlfriend of 6 years at a big fetish party (Luxuria) that I had traveled for specifically. My conclusion from these experiences is that the best way to meet potential partners is to go to live events since the attendees have weeded themselves out from the anonymous online avatars and are real and serious.
Thanks to all the kind and welcoming people in the Hungarian community, I found a new environment where I felt accepted and appreciated, which made my adjustment a positive experience.
If you are interested in one of the most known Hungarian shibari dojo, check out the White Tiger Shibari Dojo where Teddy is one of the owners & teachers.
Shibari has become increasingly popular. What do you think is driving this growing interest, especially in Hungary?
The Hungarian kink scene is growing with new and different events that show shibari in a different light. There are the fetish parties where people can see the Japanese erotic art in its most flamboyant form. At smaller play parties, the guests can witness shibari in a more sexually charged environment, while the monthly rope jams provide the opportunity to make new friendly connections, learn from others, and do Japanese rope bondage in a calmer and more sensual way. At the educational workshops held by different people, one can acquire a completely different vision of what shibari is, depending on the style and approach of the presenter.
Not all approaches to shibari fit the needs and tastes of the people who show interest in shibari, and it's great that they can discover that face of shibari that they are looking for.
Is there a particular experience or moment that has shaped your view or practice of shibari? A personal story that stands out, perhaps related to BDSM rope art or kinbaku photography?
There was a shibari event in Romania where I was invited to do a stage performance with my model among performances from other passionate riggers. I was less experienced than most, and I made some mistakes that I knew such a knowledgeable audience would notice. I also made the decision that I would emphasize heavily the passion towards your partner, taking joy in their helplessness in your hands and them responding genuinely to your intense stimuli.
In the end, many people from the audience shared that it was the personal connection and play with your partner, instead of with your ropes, that made a big impression on them. They were used to seeing perfect technical executions, and despite my mistakes, they loved the style.
Then I realized that playing with my partner with the use of toys/tools is what brings me a lot more satisfaction than playing with my rope / toys while using my partner's body as a space filler / inanimate object.
The performance also taught me the value of not taking yourself too seriously and accepting your mistakes and learning from them instead of trying to hide them and pretending you were perfect.
In our art at #SakunawaGallery, we aim to capture these moments of connection. Our latest piece, Whisper, embodies this interplay—exploring the beauty of restraint through fine art prints.
You also teach shibari. What do you feel is most important when guiding others in learning the art? How do you approach sharing this skill with beginners and more experienced practitioners?
I aim to strike a balance between learning the technical aspects of creating secure ties and remembering that your partner wants to have fun too.
I teach my students to respect the dangers of rope bondage (as one of the most dangerous BDSM-related activities) while also remembering to pause the technical practice in order to re-connect with their partner. There's space for learning a technique and playing with your partner within the same session.
Over the years, have you met any big names in the shibari scene? How have these encounters influenced your work and your understanding of BDSM as an art form?
I am grateful that I've learned from Nina Russ, Pedro Cordas, Gorgone, RopuNawa, Rope Knight, Osada Steve, Bruce Esinem, to name a few. As a mix of multiple styles, I learned:
a technical approach to creating purposeful ties
a bit of dominance
a bit of sensuality
not to take myself too seriously
to take my time, not to rush with my tying and untying so my partner's emotions and feelings can develop and reveal themselves in bondage
to practice my rope tension for the next 10 years
to take time before a session to shed my self-doubts and worries, and to get into my desired headspace
to be consistent with the personality I want my partner to know me as during play
that technical tying without connection is superficial and unsatisfying
there's no shame in redoing a tie if that means fixing a safety concern
We know that your main profession is metalwork, especially creating BDSM tools. How does this work influence your approach to Japanese bondage artwork?
Rope and steel usually have their separate time and place to shine (no pun intended), but they meet quite conveniently when I suspend my partner in the air from one of the suspension frames I've created. I've also made a rectangular frame that I place on the ground, and I can tie my partner laying down in a variety of positions. Rope allows me a lot of flexibility in regard to how restrictive I want to make a tie. It's very easy to adjust how tightly each arm and leg are pulled and immobilized.
I am generally agnostic to what tools I use because the root of my art is the way I play with my partner and the experiences I put her through.
It's about excitement, dominance and submission, the fear of pain, the floating feeling of the endorphins from the pain, the satisfaction of the release (sexual and literal). I reach for whichever tool would serve my purpose the best.
When creating your pieces, do you follow a specific process or inspiration? What's the most rewarding part of crafting BDSM tools?
My biggest inspiration is the BDSM video productions of Insex / Infernal Restraints, by PD. His creativity (and that of his team) has on many occasions made me dream of experiencing lots of the BDSM equipment they have created. Everything I build aims to provide its wearer with a genuine experience of helplessness under the hands of their trusted and caring partner. All restraints have to be real and inescapable so that the "captive" can enjoy sinking into their role without worrying that they may break the equipment.
My biggest reward is knowing that one more person will turn a fantasy into a reality because of my passion and work.
You also work with photography. How do you capture the essence of shibari through the lens? What's your process in translating the physical and emotional aspects of shibari into powerful fine art bondage photography?
My main goal is to inspire my audience's desire to recreate the same scenarios in their own play sessions. I aim to equip people with new vision, ideas, and tools, so they can experience new sources of memorable satisfaction. I love it when I see that someone was inspired by my work and implemented their new ideas in their play.
You've created stunning pieces, whether through metalwork or capturing a suspended person in shibari photography – both of which clearly highlight the artistic side of BDSM. How do you see the connection between your work and Sakunawa's vision, which shares not only the practical side but the deeper artistic essence of this world?
Everyone can learn something different from shibari or Western BDSM-styled art, depending on their interests. To me, this form of art reminds me that, as individual personalities, we have different faces/sides of us that we show in different areas of life. It's possible to be genuine and real while displaying different sides of you in situations that permit that. The art we create can inspire people to explore new and hidden shades of their personality and find a positive and constructive environment to let that side of theirs loose.
Shibari is often seen as a deeply personal and intimate experience. Can you share a memorable moment when you felt a strong personal connection to a piece you were creating or a person you were working with? How does this intimacy shape your art and the way you connect with your audience?
The biggest highlight for me is when I have the trust of my model to such a degree that I can make them release their inner resistance and shame, let the mask fall, and have a genuinely cathartic experience, which they let me capture. I want my audience to think either "I want to be in her place" or "I want to be the one to turn this fantasy of my partner's into a reality."
If someone were to explore shibari from an artistic perspective, one that emphasizes personal feeling over practical policies, why do you think they should consider exploring the broader artistic exploration of the scene, such as sensual shibari fine art?
Shibari has many faces, and everyone sees it differently or practices it with a unique end goal. Seeing it from the perspective of fine art can be the influence that opens the gate to one's personal path to new forms of pleasure and satisfaction. "Hajime" from Japanese: open gates. That's what one of my tutors liked to say when they finished their teaching: Hajime! – let your creativity flow.
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