Croton Artist Transforms Paper Into Beautiful Works of Art

Local Croton artist, Yoshimi Arai has a lot to be happy about as her craft work is now being featured and sold in stores, museums and art galleries in New York and Massachusetts. She is a Yuzen Washi (traditional Japanese paper) artist who fuses the traditional Japanese art of origami (folding paper) with western lacquer techniques producing beautiful, durable and wearable works of art that look like glass but weight no more then a piece of paper.

“When we moved into Croton I began to miss Japanese culture,” said Arai, who came to Croton from Japan. “I started to miss the doll festival and the dolls I left behind in Tokyo. So I made dolls out of paper with origami technique. One of my friends was really impressed with the dolls and bought me some origami craft work and said ‘Yoshimi you can make it better’ and I thought maybe.”

That was the birth of her company Magokoro and a line of crafts made with Yuzen Washi, a traditional Japanese paper that is made out of mulberry bark and is hand silkscreened, including: earrings, rings, pins, headbands, necklaces, mirrors, combs, candle holders, mobiles, trays and the newest additions: lamp shades and vases.  However around the time she started her business, the tragic events of 9/11 occurred and had a profound impact on her budding business and art.

“At the same time [as starting to experiment with origami craft work] 9/11 happened and it made me very sad,” said Arai. “It [doing her craft work] was meditative and healing for me. Magokoro means love in its purest form in Japanese and I felt that was now the most important thing. Everyone was sad and in chaos after the terrorist attacks. Through my work I could be a particle of hope.”

As her craftwork matured, the message she tries to send with her pieces has also deepened. While experimenting with adding a liquid polymer to the traditional paper she was surprised and delighted at both the effect of the combination and the symbolism that the fusion of the eastern and western techniques produced. It is through that fusion that the paper looks like glass.

“I was very impressed with the combination of the liquid polymer and the washi, it was unusual and beautiful,” said Arai. “I felt it was a metaphor for life...about accepting different cultures…accepting and compromising. The Japanese washi paper texture will be taken away but beautiful layers emerge.”

Each of the various pieces is handcrafted by Yoshimi and some are hand painted as well. She offers several shapes each with their own meaning from traditional cranes that mean peace to the popular cone shape that means soothing and her personal favorite dancing princess that means be yourself and was inspired by one of her favorite hobbies, Zumba dancing.

“Dancing princess is my favorite,” said Arai. “Zumba has really inspired me…my instructor says to let the body flow to the music, the meaning is be yourself. This has been really hard for me I was always putting myself second to others.”

Zumba isn’t the only thing that inspires her art. She is also inspired by nature and finds the most inspiration in just relaxing and opening her mind since she likens inspiration to falling water.

“I believe we are under a rain of inspiration,” said Arai. “We have to open our mind we will receive the falling inspiration. It’s always falling.”

Yoshimi’s work can be seen and bought at the Flat Iron Gallery in Peekskill,  The Hammond Museum in North Salem and The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Ma. Her work can also be seen at her website at www.magokorony.com. The best way to buy her work is through local craft fairs since she loves to meet people; a list of her upcoming shows is available on her website but her next show is on Oct 2^nd at St. Mark’s Church in The Bowery.

“Being able to sell is important for my business,” said Arai. “But it isn’t the focus. At the craft shows customers come in and I have conversations about life and death and these conversations are more important. My work is just a chance to meet people. This isn’t just my business this is my life’s work. I’m lucky to have such a loving job. I feel so fortunate.”

She does take custom orders and can be reached at www.magokorony.com or at 914-862-0044.