Yukari Sato
After obtaining her make-up qualification in London and worked as a fashion model at the same time, she returned to Japan where she studied and graduated from Kuwasawa Design School. In 2010, she started working on handmade washi in the area where she grew up and then, established her current studio in 2012. She works in an environment surrounded by nature, using a special local treasure: a water called “Kannon”, one of the 100 best waters in Japan.
Always searching for new forms of “washi”, she also respect the Japanese people’s lifestyle and sensitivity to use paper, a “fragile” material, as a partition between the inside and outside, and the paper-making techniques cultivated by her predecessors.
She has developed unique washi works by innovating raw materials and techniques, such as adding a mineral called zeolite to the fibers of kozo, (the raw material for washi), to provide humidity control and deodorant functions. She brought another innovation by using twisted washi paper to make kozo through a wooden frame. Back in 2016, she had a chance to go back to London and held an exhibition there.
Recently, she has focused on the ways of incorporating 3D printers and other “digital fabrication” into “craft” and has produced many three-dimensional works.
AWARDS
2016 Tomos Candle Craft Contest, TOKYO/JAPAN
2018 Good Design Award, TOKYO/JAPAN
2019 A`Design Award Arts, Crafts, and Ready-Made Design Award Category, SILVER, MILANO/ITALY
2019 Kanazawa World Crafts Competition, Winner, ISHIKAWA / JAPAN
EXHIBITIONS
2010 Paper That Breath, Nishiazabu, Gallery Le bain, TOKYO/JAPAN
2011 Exhibition -Shiki-, Oriental Hotel Hiroshima, HIROSHIMA/JAPAN
2011 REVALUE NIPPON PROJECT EXHIBITION, The Ritz-Carlton Osaka, OSAKA/JAPAN
2012 Hidetoshi Nakata Meets Modern Crafts, Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum, IBARAKI/JAPAN
2015 Nihon No Suteki, Today`s Gallery, EHIME/JAPAN
2016 Kyoto Craft Session in Amsterdam, Japan Culture Exchange, AMSTERDAM/HOLLAND.
2016 In spring, It is the dawn that is the most beautiful, White Conduit Projects, LONDON/UNITED KINDOM.
2017 Lexus New Takumi Project, Bellesalle Tokyo, TOKYO/JAPAN,
2018 Art and design, dialogue with materials, Toyama museum, TOYAMA/JAPAN
2018 LEXUS×BEAMS JAPAN｜LIFE WITH NEW TAKUMI, INTERSECT BY LEXUS TOKYO/JAPAN,
2019 PAPER WHITE GRADATION 「ADORE x Requ」OSAKA/JAPAN,
2019 MOOD The Museum of Outstanding Design, COMO/ITALY
2019 Festival of Architecture and Interior Designing, NEW DELI/ INDIA
2019 Shenzhen International Industrial Design Fair, Shenzhen Convention, and Exhibition Center, SHENZHEN/CHINA
2019 4th Triennale of KOGEI in KANAZAWA, KOGEI as Contemporary Craft, Transcending Boundaries, KANAZAWA/ISHIKAWA
2020 Exhibition Textile Paper, Mino-washi Kaikan, GIFU/ JAPAN
