Kaoru Izushi

"I've heard that a knit piece is alive. It grows and contracts. But as I practice my art, I have also come to realize that each loop has life, like a cell, and when I knit, I am combining these cells to create a whole organism. "

Emotion is key to Kaoru Izushi's knit apparel. The artist feels that each of her pieces possesses a spirit—whether happiness or calm—which is intended to transfer to its wearer.

Izushi uses a hand-loomed knitting machine to create her dynamic pieces, incorporating intarsia techniques into the designs and finishing them with hand tailoring. The artist places priority on natural fibers, including cotton, wool, mohair, silk, and a paper yarn from Kyoto, Japan.

After studying apparel design at Musashino Art University in Tokyo, Izushi went on to work with apparel companies in Japan and then with fiber artist Susan Otterson in Madison, Wisconsin. She established her eponymous knitwear company in 1991.