Interview with Yoriko Oki, Hand-dyer

18 years

It was originally a very serious hobby because so many people told me that it would not be possible to make living with textile/fibre art. Then, my husband suddenly became very ill 5 years ago. He had an overnight emergency surgery for a heart-related condition and almost died that night. As he was heading to the operation room, thinking that he wouldn’t make it through, he said that he had a good life. Those words made me think… Would I be able to say the same if I were in his position? I had to look at the fact how unhappy I was working as a freelance translator. So, I have been making conscious changes to my life to make myself a happier person since then.

It is a name of my shared studio. So, the name was already there when I joined the studio.

Flexibility is a major factor. Because my husband is now disabled and at home all the time, I would like to keep him company by working at home. And, working with dyes/fibre/yarn is almost mesmerizing! I can spend hours at a dye pot, and even more hours working with the yarn I dyed. I just love it.

When I feel the connection with my customers. I realize that selling yarn is not just selling physical goods. There are all sorts of emotions – excitement, love, care, etc, attached to the yarn. Often, customers are knitting gifts for their loved ones, or a special sweater/shawl/hat to keep her warm. I love hearing those stories and receiving the pictures of their finished projects!

I feel lucky to live in Vancouver, Canada, where I am surrounded by nature, and still enjoy the conveniences of urban environment. The nature is a great inspiration source for sure, but it sometimes gives me some restrictions, too. For example, we have drought in summer almost every year. In order to save water, I always plan my work so that I can reuse water in dye pots as much as I can. For this reason, I decided not to use natural dyes in large quantity because they require many rounds of rinsing. Also, in winter, when it snows, I enjoy snow-dyeing sock blanks. We don’t get as much snow as the rest of Canada, but snow dyeing is a great way to enjoy the snow instead of complaining about it!

I used to be a perfectionist who couldn’t finish projects because they were just not right. But I am learning to get things done.

I like designing a collection of colourways. I choose a theme, make a mood board, develop a story, dye a bunch of samples, and choose 5 to 7 colourways from them.

Francoise Danoy [Aroha Knits website & Instagram]. She is my teacher/coach and I have a lot learn from her – amazing drive, determination, and leadership – just to name a few.

Resonance between the dyer and the knitter. I think that my job is to inspire my customers to make something beautiful/cool/interesting. I feel that sending yarn to customers is very much like sowing seeds and waiting for beautiful flowers to bloom.

tending my vegetable garden in my back yard.

I am an immigrant from Japan to Canada. I used to be an architect in Japan, but hit the glass ceiling very early as a female architect. Since moving to Canada, I had many odd jobs to keep myself afloat. It took long time, but I think I found what I love as a dyer.