YOKO ANDO

I conceived these textiles less as “artworks” than as the finishing touch for the concrete surfaces of the space designed by Sou Fujimoto. Concrete forcefully insists on its presence as a frame for space. In this building in particular, concrete in a range of tones and textures is used to finish interior walls. I hoped to increase the affinity between the building and the people inside it by stretching textile membranes across those surfaces.

I was also conscious of the light that enters through the skylights high above, and tried to guide it gently down to the lobby. In order to represent the idea of grains of light flowing like a waterfall, I wanted to create tapestries with a serene presence.

Afte printing white particles on the silver lace, I treated the base material with a special shrinking process and made ribbons of it before embroidering and recreation. This series of complex processes created a textile that can softly emphasise the strength of the space.

Yoko Ando

Textile designer and coordinator Yoko Ando was born in Tokyo. She graduated from the Department of Graphic Design at Musashino Art University’s Junior College of Art and Design and worked at Nuno Works before founding Yoko Ando Design in 2011. She has supplied textiles for many architect-designed public buildings and private residences, and acts as textile consultant to the theatre company ARICA.

Recent major projects she has worked with architects to contribute textiles to include the National Taichung Theater (Toyo Ito & Associates), Minna no Mori Gifu Media Cosmos (Toyo Ito & Associates), Seibu Railway Laview (Kazuyo Sejima), Kyoto City Kyocera Museum of Art (Jun Aoki and Tezzo Nishizawa), and Maruhon Makiart Terrace (Sou Fujimoto) in Ishinomaki. Her published works include The Textiles of Ando Yoko: Weaving Spaces and Structures (Lixil, 2015).