Sakura

6.0 x 3.5 x 1.0 cm

cotton thread, polyester thread, felt, glass beads, stainless steel

Three-dimensional hand embroidery, free standing lace.

Michi Yamasaki is a contemporary embroidery artist born in Kansai, Japan, and currently residing in British Columbia. Raised in a family that cherished traditional Japanese arts and craftsmanship and surrounded by kimonos and traditional Japanese embroidery as a familiar part of her daily life, she was deeply influenced by the Japanese reverence for the changing seasons and ephemeral beauty.

Through years of independently learning Japanese and European embroidery of botanical motifs, she discovered that sculpting embroidery into three-dimensional forms allows for an immediate, intuitive perception of the rich shadows and depth created by overlapping petals of flowers. To develop three-dimensional botanical embroidery, she refined distinctive hoopless embroidery technique using a felt substrate. This method allows her to construct self-supporting, intricate jewellery from threads.

She launched her career as an embroidery artist in 2019, participating in local craft markets and fulfilling commissions. Her works have been exhibited and sold at Sasaki Art Gallery and select retail stores in Vancouver since 2024.

Her work is characterized by a sophisticated interplay between the organic softness of threads and architectural precision. Driven by a desire to give permanence to the ephemeral, she transforms delicate embroidery into autonomous, wearable art that invites an intimate tactile connection with the natural world.