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 ARTISTS' BIO

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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..

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WE ARE A TEAM

Hiromi Tsutatani

After graduating from art college and building a career as a textile designer, she worked as an interior buyer and creative director for a foreign mail-order company, where she honed her product development skills on the world stage. Moved to Chicago and・・・

 

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Yuri Yamashita Chang

Jewelry Designer Lives and works in San Francisco

Graduated from Musashino Art University, Department of Crafts and Industrial Design.

Lives with her husband Henry, an architect. Her cat NINI passed away in 2020. After graduating from art university, she worked at a jewelry studio in Tokyo, where she learned advanced metal carving ....

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山下民子

ツタタニヒロミ

ユリ ヤマシタ チャン

BIO_略歴特徴作品

山下民子  Tamiko Yamashita

1929年生まれ 造形作家 東京都港区在住

武蔵野美術大学彫刻科卒

花が好き・鳥が好き・猫が好き・そして何より人が好き。

​絵画・造形教室運営は20歳から始め、今も現役!(さすがに94歳を過ぎた現在は体調と相談しながら)東日本大震災を機に少しでも寄付をしたいと物販やチャリティーバザーを企画し、被災した子供たちのが大人になるまで寄付を10年続けた。試行錯誤の末、87歳でオンライン通販タミーズを立ち上げ、フェルト制作をはじめると、可愛くてあったかい作品に、多くの方から「一目ぼれしました!」とご購入が。2019年90歳の時にはスーパーシニアとして仕事ぶりがTV放映される。社会とつながり誰かを喜ばせる使命ある限り生きたい。上海生まれ。引き上げ者、戦中・戦後を生き抜きたくさん苦労した分、作品が味わい深い。今が一番幸せ。

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.

民子履歴
英語民子経歴

山下民子の作品を見る

民子作品例
テレビ朝日 東京サイト 「スーパーシニア特集」で山下民子とタミーズの活動・制作風景や健康の秘訣が紹介されました。      2020年9月19日
*コピー厳禁
婦人公論 2024年5月号 人物ルポ 「いくつになっても新しい挑戦を」で山下民子の半生、タミーズ創業のきっかけなど挑戦の日々が紹介されました。
​2024年4月15日
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ユリ履歴

ユリ ヤマシタ チャン

ジュエリーデザイナー サンフランシスコ在住

武蔵野美術大学造形学部工芸工業デザイン科卒

建築家の夫ヘンリーと暮らす。猫のNINIが2020年亡くなる。美大卒業後は都内のジュエリー工房で働き高度な彫金技術を厳しい師匠の下で習得。渡米後も自宅アトリエで制作を続ける。数年前に民子の勧めでフェルトに出会い、大好きな猫を作ってみるとすっかり夢中に。彫金の立体造形感覚がここでも生かされることに。自作の猫ちゃんバッグでSFの街をあるけばアメリカ人が大絶賛。

次第に3Dでパンダやウサギ、トリなど制作の幅を広げている。NINIがまだ元気だった頃にカワイイ寝姿を作った。もう居ないはずのNINIがすぐそばで寝ているような感覚に癒され、羊毛フェルトがペットロスから立ち直れる大きな一助になることを身をもって知る。悲しみに暮れない為に、ペットが元気なうちに一緒に数日間かけて作ることを教えてあげたいと考えている。

Yuri Yamashita Chang

Jewelry Designer Lives and works in San Francisco

Graduated from Musashino Art University, Department of Crafts and Industrial Design.

Lives with her husband Henry, an architect. Her cat NINI passed away in 2020. After graduating from art university, she worked at a jewelry studio in Tokyo, where she learned advanced metal carving techniques under a strict master. After moving to the U.S., she continued to work in her home studio. A few years ago, she was introduced to felt by Tamiko, and when she tried her hand at making her favorite cat, she was completely hooked. Her sense of three-dimensional sculpture from metal carving was put to good use here as well. When she walked around the streets of SF with her own cat bag, she received rave reviews from Americans.

When NINI was still healthy, I made a cute sleeping figure of her. She was healed by the feeling that NINI, who was supposed to be gone, was sleeping right beside her, and learned firsthand that wool felted pets can be a great help in recovering from pet loss. She hopes to teach people how to spend a few days together making things while their pets are still alive and well, so that they don't have to grieve.

英語ユリ経歴
ユリ作品例
ひろみ履歴

ツタタニ ヒロミ

​former MoMA Japan Branding & Creative Director /フェルト作家

武蔵野美術短大商業デザイン科卒

卒業後、テキスタイルデザイナーとしてキャリアを積んだ後、外資系通信販売でインテリアバイヤー・クリエイティブディレクターとして世界を舞台に商品開発力を磨く。シカゴに移住、アメリカの大手通販会社Speagel 社(当時)でTrendforcasting Division Manager としてトレンド分析・マーケティングに携わる。 帰国後、大手家電メーカーの新規事業立ち上げプロジェクトにコンサルタントとして参画。2003年、ニューヨーク近代美術館MoMAに単独で掛け合い、プロジェクトを動かしMoMA Online Store の日本誘致にこぎつける。その後18年間、MoMA Japanのチーフバイヤー・クリエイティブディレクターを歴任し、日本におけるMoMAブランドビジネスの礎を築く。プライベートでは2016年よりファミリービジネス、タミーズの運営開始。オーダーメイドのペットポートレート制作、ウールフェルト輸入等、現在はフェルト作家として活動。

【おまけの話】

​幼いころからモノ作りが大好き。高校時代・美術短大時代は母親の経営する画塾で助手として子供達に絵を教える。

幅広く色々な素材でモノづくりしてきたが、アメリカに住んで和紙に目覚め1999年和紙のモダニズム展開催。光栄にも幼馴染で後に誰もが知る著名な作詞家 秋元康氏より作品に対し「・・”実物大の幸せ”がそこにあります・・」と温かいメッセージをいただく。その後上述のMoMAの仕事の傍ら母親・姉の影響でフェルトの魅力に目覚める。これまでの商品開発の経験をフェルトに託し私らしい等身大の作家活動をしていきたい。

Hiromi Tsutatani

After graduating from art college and building a career as a textile designer, she worked as an interior buyer and creative director for a foreign mail-order company, where she honed her product development skills on the world stage. Moved to Chicago and worked as Trendforcasting Division Manager at Spiegel, a major mail-order company in the U.S. (at the time), where she was involved in trend analysis and marketing. After returning to Japan, he participated as a consultant in a new business launch project for a major consumer electronics manufacturer, and in 2003, he approached MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, on his own and managed the project to bring the MoMA Online Store to Japan. For the next 18 years, she served as the chief buyer and creative director of MoMA Japan, laying the foundation of the MoMA brand business in Japan.
In her private life, she started operating a family business, Tamys, in 2016. Currently working as a felt artist, making custom-made pet portraits, importing wool felt, and more.

Extra Tips

She has loved making things since she was a child.

In high school and junior college of art, she taught painting to children as an assistant at her mother's art school.

She has been making things from a wide variety of materials, but it was when she lived in the U.S. that she became interested in washi paper, and in 1999 she held a solo exhibition of her works. She was honored to receive a warm message from his childhood friend and later well-known lyricist, Yasushi Akimoto, who said, "...there is 'real-size happiness' in your work.... Later, while working at MoMA, she was fascinated by felt under the influence of her mother and older sister. I would like to put my experience in product development into felt and do my own unique life-size artist activities.

英語ひろみ経歴

ツタタニ ヒロミの作品を見る

ヒロミ作品例
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