harishigoto/ Mai Kato 【Embroidery】

harishigoto is an independent and highly original earring producer.

They specialize in heartwarmingly beautiful embroidered earrings.

Their modest, calm colored earrings contain a sparkling centre that shines with attitude.

The harishigoto artist Mai Kato lives in Hakodate, Hokkaido.

We visited her atelier and heard her story.

She used to work as a hairstylist at a beauty salon and was a hair and make-up artist for weddings.

She knew she wanted to become a hair and make-up artist the moment she saw her cousin as a bride.

Her hair style was absolutely gorgeous and Mai couldn't believe it was a human creation.

She was so inspired, only one thought entered her mind,"I want to make hair like that, too !".

Since she was young, once she's decided to do something, she just does it.

She focused herself into being a master of her profession and has never looked back.

Mai has watched her mother's hand embroidering and dress making since she was a child.

Before she had encountered embroidery, she had a passion for knitting and had been knitting beanie hats for herself and her family.

When Mai visited a "Tegamisha" textile exhibition to see her favourite textile artist, she was amazed to find the wider world of beautiful textile design.

A surge of excitement raced through her, much like when she discovered embroidery.

"I was so moved at the exhibition! I was like 'Are they really created by a person?' And if they are, I want to make them too, and give everyone the same delight I had.

Thats when I decided to enter the textile exhibition myself."she said.

Her twin sister who with her was surprised at her passion after the exhibition.

Her sister said "You have never done embroidering before! How can you say you're just going to enter the exhibition?".

But Mai answered "I just will".

She was at her parent's place when she visited the exhibition.

On the exhibition day she bought a pain T-shirt, got some of her mother's tailor's chalk and embroidery threads, outlined her child's hand and footprints on to the T-shirt, and stitched them.

"Embroidery doesn't have on machines, I can just create with my own sensibilities, free of concerns.

I think sewing machines can limit human creative freedom, but with just fabric, a needle and yourself, you can make whatever you want, even the smallest and most delicate designs can still be crafted and made however I please."

That's how Mai's embroidery journey started.

When she started, she taught herself  by practicing day after day.

I was very surprised that she hadn't read any embroidery textbooks at all.

"I feel that I read textbooks I would favor the established ideas within.

I could learn many types of embroidery from textbooks, but I could easily imagine I might feel obliged to incorporate them into my work.

I knew that I'd never be content with my work if I hadn't used the embroidery techniques and styles learned from the books.

No, this was not how I wanted to work."

Wondering what she could make with just basic stitching  and being excited about just how far she could go without text books, was just the beginning.

" I'm always thinking about what's beyond the horizon" said Mai.

She describes her creative process as a system of trial and error.

She tries new ways of stitching with a variety of threads, applying them to her work bit by bit, until she is satisfied with what she has created.

After many days of embroidering, she started posting on Instagram.

Amazingly she had the first order after only one month and started to open pop-up shops to sell and show her embroidery.

Finally, she was offered to open her own shop at the textile exhibition, which was her goal from the start.

After that, she received many offers across Japan to attend exhibitions and open pop-up shops.

She then began planning how to become more efficient to increase her daily creative output.

She says that while living in Tokyo, she was overloaded with information and ideas, and hated the effect and influence it was constantly having  on her work.

"If I'm exposed to too much outside influence while working , it can suddenly feel alien to me, like it's not my work anymore!

Hakodate, Hokkaido is much quieter and this problem doesn't exist.

I enjoy the weather, I listen to birds sing and I wonder what they think about.

These little things make me calm and allow me to hear myself. I probably couldn't do my work if I lived in Tokyo.

However, sometimes when I do want more inspiration, what I do is go out to experience the variety of things in the world around me, and those experiences will come out in my work.

Every six months or so, i can feel drained for ideas. It's times like these I want to go back to Tokyo and be inspired.

These journeys offer experiences that then come out in my work.

I feel the changes of the town by seeing the sophistication within it.

Because I can see and feel the nature here in Hakodate, I am able to keep balance between the city and nature.

I've felt as if I'm always fading away because of too much urban stimulus.

I now have time  to be honest with myself and believe in myself and the things I like.

There is nothing that Tokyo doesn't have.

The world is overflowing with information so we must choose and secure what we need, or risk being swept away by it all.

I'd rather MAKE the things I need here in Hakodate as I was tired of the influences of Tokyo."

I'd say harishigoto's warm and highly skilled earrings are anchored within the space between the sophisticated and the undeveloped.

"Right from the start, i was never trying to make 100 out of 100 people happy.

I will be happy if at least one person out of a hundred appreciates and understands what I am trying to create with my earrings.

I don't need my earrings to be liked by everyone, I just want at least one person to find them cute." she said with a smile.

"Whatever happens, I don't want to give up. I want to keep going.

I'm not sure what I am going to create next, but even if I have no ideas, I will keep searching for the next one."

Whatever happens, the warm heart and soul of her embroidery, and the will to do it stitch by stitch will never change.

Even today, armed with just a needle, fabric and her own self, she continues to do embroidery on her own terms.