The view of Nishikatsura Town, Yamanashi Prefecture, where Yoshimoto lives
It Begins with “I Love to Draw”
When you encounter Yumi Yoshimoto’s work, what reaches you first is not the “image” but the density left behind by the movement of her hand. The force of the line, the rub, the overlaps—what you find there are not outlines drawn to explain, but a tactile mass you almost want to touch. When it catches your eye in the middle of daily life, a mood that exists before words quietly rises to the surface. That sense of distance—close, yet not intrusive—feels to me like one of the central attractions of Yoshimoto’s expression.
Yoshimoto studied textile design at Tokyo Zokei University, completing her bachelor’s degree in 2013 and her master’s degree in 2015. Today, she balances her own brand with product development for companies as a textile designer, and also holds a teaching position at a university.
Still, she is not the kind of maker who leads with titles. At the core of her work lies something more straightforward: the simple starting point of “loving to draw.” She loved drawing so much that she attended a children’s art class in elementary school, and she began facing it seriously as a practice after entering art school. Stimuli and encounters—with teachers, older students, classmates, and her internship—accumulated over time, and by around her fourth year, she began to think, “Someday, I’d like to become an artist,” she says.
A Turning Point: An Award, and “KESHIKI”
One milestone that cannot be overlooked is her 2013 award: the Juror’s Special Prize at the Kokka Print Textile Award “inspiration.” She received it while in graduate school, and in 2016 she released “KESHIKI” through KOKKA. Its concept was “textiles that color everyday life, like hanging a landscape painting.”
The idea of leaving “the feeling of a landscape” in fabric connects directly to her work today. Rather than copying what is in front of her as it is, she translates the texture of a moment—when something stirred inside her—into another form, and preserves it. Because the accuracy of that translation is so high, viewers can more easily layer it over their own memories.
Moving to Yamanashi Changed the Shape of Her Time
Another major turning point was a shift in where she lives and works. In 2018, she moved with her family from Tokyo to Nishikatsura Town in Yamanashi Prefecture. The trigger, she says, was the “Mt. Fuji Textile Project,” promoted in collaboration between Tokyo Zokei University, Nishikatsura Town, and Fujiyoshida City.
When the environment changes, the flow of time in making changes with it. Yoshimoto says she runs many simulations in her head before she begins, and that she sometimes chooses to draw on as large a sheet of paper as possible so she won’t shrink up. Her motto is: “If you do it, it’ll work out—keep improving every day; train; stay in an athletic-club mindset.” This doesn’t read as simple “toughness talk,” but as a realistic kind of stamina—the kind you need in order to keep making, day after day.
A “Mass” Built Around Texture
Speaking about the “texture object” series, Yoshimoto says it began with a simple question: “What if texture itself became the motif?” From there emerged the concept of a “mass” formed entirely by texture.
While valuing hand-drawn tactility and surface feel, she wants to share, through her work, the things she has seen and stored in her mind—what she considers “GOOD,” the things that made her go, “That’s it.” Yet she doesn’t want to push anything onto the viewer. She places the highest priority on leaving room for imagination, hoping the work can become an entry point for stimulation and inspiration.
This way of leaving “space” is where the refinement of Yoshimoto’s work lies. She doesn’t spell things out too clearly. At the same time, she doesn’t retreat into vagueness. Somewhere in the picture plane, there is always an interval—an opening—where the viewer can regain their own senses.
A Hand That Doesn’t Over-Refine, and the Method of “Seeing As”
Her choice of techniques aligns with that attitude. She likes materials that retain the evidence of the hand, and tools that let her draw with speed and momentum. For example, in the “texture object” series, she used dermatograph and graphite pencils—both rich in oil content. She says she aims for a drawing quality that isn’t overly smoothed, so the “live” feeling comes through.
She also often uses a method she describes as “mitateru”—to “see something as something else”—in order to make an expression more approachable. She leans toward abstraction, while still leaving the viewer a foothold. Because she is skillful at building that foothold, the work never becomes fully opaque. It can enter daily life.
Accepting “Decoration,” and What It Means to Display
In terms of entering daily life, it was also striking to hear Yoshimoto speak about beginning to claim the word “decoration” as part of her own territory. To decorate is to cherish something, to take delight in it. Hang a poster on the wall, and you begin to feel affection for that wall—for the space itself.
You don’t have to look at a work while thinking about art. You can think about something else as you look. If, now and then, it can become something you simply gaze at absentmindedly, she says, that would make her happy.
Those words can be a relief for the person who brings the work home as well. You aren’t asked to have art knowledge, or the “correct” way of viewing. It can begin with the simple feeling of liking something. That lightness is what can grow into long-lasting affection.
Toward PORTRAIT LAB, and Toward Space
As for what she is working on now, she is continuing to explore figurative motifs in her own way, while also experimenting through the patterns for products in her brand.
That brand is “PORTRAIT LAB.” In the interview, she talks about launching it during the pandemic. While looking at photos of sofas, she noticed that “cushions are almost always square,” and that observation led to the idea that changing the shape could be interesting—an idea that then developed into “Fabric object.”
Until February 15 of this year, a pop-up titled “PORTRAIT LAB × AKIKA EGAMI” is being held at Spiral Market LUCUA Osaka. You can see how her activities are expanding naturally—from images toward space.
In Closing: For Those Moments When You Simply Stare, Blankly
Yumi Yoshimoto’s work doesn’t pull you along with a strong message. Instead, it adjusts your senses just a little. Your days don’t change dramatically from the moment you hang it on the wall. And yet, at certain moments, your eyes stop—and your mood quietly lifts. That is how it “works.”
You like texture. You like color. You pick it up from that doorway, and now and then, you simply stare at it absentmindedly. That alone feels enough—as if the work itself is telling you so.
Yoshimoto's work can be found here
Bookshelf in Yoshimoto's studio
