French artist Isabelle Yamamoto is based in Brussels, Belgium, where she breathes new life into antique textiles discovered through her encounters abroad. Deeply influenced by Japanese aesthetics, she redyes twentieth-century European fabrics—particularly hemp—and transforms them into home textiles that enrich everyday life, including cushions and table linens.

The antique hemp fabrics Isabelle collects primarily in Eastern Europe were once essential to rural life, used for clothing, bed linens, grain sacks, and other everyday necessities. Variations in the thickness and color of the yarn, coarse and irregular weaves, and traces of hand stitching all speak of the people and ways of life rooted in each region. With limited availability and labor-intensive, costly production, hemp has become an exceptionally rare material. Yet, as one of the strongest natural plant fibers, these fabrics have endured through the years and remain usable today.

For this exhibition, Isabelle will spend time in Kanazawa, creating new work while engaging with the city and its surroundings. The exhibition will also feature pieces intended for everyday use, including pieces for the tea moment—a recent focus of her practice—as well as bags. We invite you to experience each carefully crafted work firsthand and appreciate its distinctive materials and textures. Isabelle will also be scheduled to be present during the exhibition.

ig: @isabelle_yamamoto