ARTISTS' PROFILE
Tamiko Yamashita
Born in 1929 Lives and works in Minato-ku, Tokyo
Graduated from Musashino Art University, Department of Sculpture
Loves flowers, birds, cats, and above all, people.
She has been teaching painting and modeling classes since she was 20 years old and is still active! (As one might expect, she is now 94 years old, but she is still consulting with her health condition.) After the Great East Japan Earthquake, she organized sales of goods and charity bazaars in order to donate as much money as possible, and continued to make donations for 10 years until the children who suffered from the disaster became adults. After much trial and error, at the age of 87, she launched the online shopping site Tammys and started making felt products. When she turns 90 in 2019, her work will be broadcast on TV as a super senior citizen. She wants to live as long as there is a mission to connect with society and make someone happy. Born in Shanghai. As a retiree, she went through a lot of hardships during and after the war, and her works are full of flavor. She is happiest now.
Born in Nagoya Japan.In 1978, she graduated from the department of Product Design, Jewelry Course at Musashino Art University in Tokyo Japan.She worked for one of the famous Jewelry Studios in Japan and she skilled up advanced techniques there.After she received several awards from her work, In 1988, She moved to San Francisco to start her studio.Now she dedicates herself for "needle felt works" based on her talent of making three dimension techniques. Feature of her works are "precise, methodical and enthusiasm". I don't know anyone who makes such realistic cats in half-three dimension in felt better than her.There are too many cute, fancy and flatter cat motives in our markets. However, real cats are not always just cute. They are mysterious, serious, and look clever at the same time. I do hope you enjoy yourself with her unique art pieces.
Hiromi Tsutatani
I liked drawing art when I was little.
After I graduated from Musashino Art Junior College, I experienced to work as a designer, a buyer, a visual merchandiser, and a creative director during my 35 years carriers.
In 2003, one e-mail I sent to MoMA New York brought a great opportunity to start up the license business. Our team –with just a few people-became founder of MoMA Design Store Japan. Today MoMA Japan is operated by The Loft Co. Ltd., and has grown with more than 30 staffs and became one of the best stores to find good design products. I deeply appreciated and enjoyed to encounter great people while I work until today.
Talking about my private, I started to support my mom (87 year-old as of year 2017) and my sister who both dedicated making handmade crafts but don’t know how to sell their crafts. So I establish their brand named Tammy’s. (I took my mom's name Tamiko for the brand.)
Products they offer are made to order cats and dogs tote bags, framed or cushion or brooches with needle felted techniques.
Interestingly, I soon realized that I also love to do it with them. So I became the needle felting artist. Now I have some classes to teach the needle felt crafts. Our clients send us their cats and dogs photos with stories and memories behind them to ask us to create 100% custom made portraits or bags or charms etc. We are truly happy to be shared each great stories between people and animals that connected tightly with love. This small business is totally different from items we sell at MoMA, however, I enjoyed doing this to see customers’ smiles.
