Emiko Kajino is an artist of Tsumami Zaiku from Japan. She takes small squares of precious chirimen fabric and folds them into individual petals to make flowers. Emiko has studied this technique in the traditional manner, to the point where she is now allowed to create her own designs and sell her works.

In November 2017, Emiko traveled to England in order to exhibit alongside Japan Crafts at the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate. There, she showed her work outside Japan for the first time and demonstrated the tsumami zaiku technique. Emiko has kindly allowed Japan Crafts to continue selling her work to those who were unable to attend.

Each piece is individual and unique, and is Emiko's own original design. Emiko loves to think of new ideas and gets bored repeating the same thing over and over! We are lucky to be able to see so many of Emiko's ideas translated into fabric.

In Japan, many people have hanging ornaments in their homes year-round. Flower balls are evocative of the tradition of kusudama - decorative balls of flowers and incense which were hung for their smell and medicinal purposes. 

We hope you enjoy browsing Emiko's work. Please remember, there is only one of each item, so you may have to snap it up quickly before somebody else does!x