Reiko Sudo

Sudo Reiko　 Eurasian Garden, Watershed Weeds　2015

I was born in a small country town surrounded by nature, where we lived every day in conversation with nature and the changing seasons. I grew up painting pictures of wild flora and fauna, eventually finding my way to textile design, though I never lost my awe and love of the natural world. Oita Prefecture owes much of its prosperity to the Chikugo River, which flows westward from its source in the Kuju-san “Nine-Layer Hills” around Mt. Aso down to the Ariake Sea. Between Kokonoe-machi “Nine-Layer Town” and Yufuin lies Mizuwake Toge “Watershed Pass”. There amidst the pure spring waters, I picture driftweeds bobbing upon the stream.
Rivers and streams attract people to primal nature. We are drawn to the waters and our spirits drift far and wide to our Eurasian Source. This Eurasian Garden is our watershed and the objects floating here are driftweeds, wonders of the Eurasian wilderness.

（Reiko Sudo, 2015）

Reiko Sudo was born in Ibaraki Prefecture. After working as a research assistant for textiles at the Department of Industrial, Interior and Craft Design, at Musashino Art University, she helped found Nuno Corporation, where she is currently Design Director. She is a Professor at Tokyo Zokei University and a recipient of the Mainichi Design Award, the ROSCOE Award and the JID Award, as well as an honorary graduate degree holder from University for the Creative Arts, UK. Her works have been included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art. Her commissioned textile design for the hotel Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo, is highly acclaimed.