Statement:

I love to make squid, octopi and other sea creatures because they're cute and cool, but I'm also drawn to making creatures that people think are a creepy or are not very fond of, like centipedes, ticks, and slugs (although, I actually don't want to touch the real ones either). Old natural history and science museums always fascinate me. I often make pieces just to use glass domes, glass petri dishes, wooden stands, or specimen boxes.

Color combinations are important and help orient me in the early stages of creating a piece, and I like to incorporate many different materials into my work, such as felt, yarn, wool fiber, beads, woven trim, wood, and glass.

I don't start with details, but rather start adding them towards the end of production, which often takes me beyond my original idea. I started with needle felting for soft sculptures, but recently I have been learning embroidery, beading, punch needle, and weaving. New techniques and new materials help me to expand the ranges both of what is possible and what draws me. Creating art produces calm and excitement in me at the same time.

Bio:

I was born and raised in Japan, and majored in Japanese traditional painting before working as an illustrator in Tokyo. I later moved to Rome, Paris, and then Brooklyn. I currently live in Vancouver, Canada with my family.

I am a fiber craft artist. My soft sculptures have been exhibited in galleries in NY, LA, San Francisco, Tokyo, Osaka, and other cities, and have been commissioned for an Adobe Creative Cloud event in NYC as well. I am also a stop-motion animation video artist, and have been commissioned for many official music videos by They Might Be Giants. I have also made miniature collages for several book covers, a science magazine, and the New York Times web campaign.

I recently started using Japanese Kogin embroidery and punch needle work to make illustrations, brooches, and music videos. Most of my pieces are sold at exhibitions, but I sell small pieces and prints on my Etsy shop (www.hine.etsy.com) as well.