DasFalke

Steven James is an Australian born Rope Artist now based in Berlin Germany.
Steven works in the Japanese style known as Shibari. Also well known by his Artist name DasFalke, he is one of Europe's better known artists specialising in this beautiful art form.
Steven’s artistic expressions include live public and private performance. Collaborations with a diverse range of photographers and visual artists including video and film makers and occasionally sketch artists and painters.
(A recent artistic project provided Steven with the opportunity to work with renowned music video director Zoran Bihac. The results can be seen together with his erotic photographic work at dasfalke-shibari.tumblr.com/)

Shibari, also known as Kinbaku is an ancient Japanese artistic form of rope bondage. It is related in style to other traditional Japanese arts such as Ikebana, Sumi-e (black ink painting) and Chanoyu (the tea ceremony). Among the many uses of Shibari are dynamic living sculpture, shared meditative practice, deep relaxation for flexibility of mind and body, expression of power exchange, and intimate erotic restraint. Shibari involves what the Japanese call kokoro (integration of spirit, body and mind), aspects that cannot be acquired through the study of technique alone. The rope must becomes an extension of the artist's hands. Within Shibari there is great emphasis place on the aesthetic created by the interaction of the ropes and the human form. There is also an inherent celebration of the concept of Wabi-Sabi. For the western mind this could be explained simply that within the seemingly imperfect there lies perfection.

Unlike the majority of Shibari practitioners who confine themselves to the underground environment of Fetish and BDSM Steven is firmly committed to expanding the acceptance of Shibari into mainstream personal and artistic realms through collaborations and shared projects with all manner of artists, organisations and events. He also works with a diverse range of healers and spiritually based practitioners.

“Yet it is the aesthetic qualities of Shibari that I find so very fascinating. Rope has the ability to mold into a body or around a shape. It can reveal or disguise. Rope can highlight the fragile nature or accentuate the powerful within. That is the medium. Combined with the Japanese technique rope has a transformative element that even now I am just beginning to understand”


Steven now operates the increasingly popular Sacred Rope Berlin Group. He teaches, performs and creates Shibari Artworks while leaning heavily towards the “Connective/Caressing” style of the art. Steven provides tuition designed for the raw beginner upwards to more advanced levels. These activities include hosting Workshops, Sacred Shibari Evenings, Private Classes and Kinbaku Experience Sessions where people can experience Shibari style bondage personally.

“Shibari is fundamentally about people, not rope. It is about individuals relating to one another at a very basic level. I share my knowledge and individual approach to assist people to find their own unique style of emotional and connective energy. My philosophy is simply that the one being tied surrenders to the ropes, and I as the one tying surrenders to the moment.
“For me Shibari is about tying another with loving energy and compassion, combined with a sense of eroticism that comes directly from the heart. Together with the traditional Shibari theme of striving to reveal ‘The Beauty in Suffering…this is always the challenge and the art within my Shibari.”

For further details regarding collaborations, teaching, workshops and additional services Steven can be contacted via: sacredropeberlin@gmail.com