This work is based on the traditional format of “samplers,” which historically served as exercises for girls to showcase embroidery techniques and skills in the form of calendars. The hand-embroidered works are intended for full-size printing. Each year, we have explored ways in which textile artists and graphic designers can collaborate, while dealing with a different theme from both technical and visual fields. In the course of our activities since 2021, we have believed that this series has fulfilled its original role as a sampler, in the sense that it has served as both technical research and as a practical exercise for us. We are encouraged by this year’s recognition and prize, and we acknowledge the importance of being part of the TDC Prize for embroidery text expression. Because this tradition has been passed down for centuries but has not become mainstream in typography.
Calendar (2025: Pulled Thread, 2024: Plaid, 2023: 3 Strands of Floss, 2022: Type Family)
Photographer: Ayako Nishibori
Masaki Komoto
Textile artist. Graduated from Metalwork at the Department of Industrial, Interior and Craft Design of Musashino Art University and the VAV – moving image department at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie. After graduating, he began studying embroidery, knitting, and other handicraft techniques independently and producing his own work. In addition to his individual work, he collaborates and accepts commissions. Recent exhibitions include “1826” in Utrecht, Tokyo (OMA, Fukuoka) and “One Step Forward, Thank You” at Daikanyama Tsutaya Books. He also contributed embroidery work to issue 15 (“The Stitch”) of the Dutch design magazine, MacGuffin.
Yuri Sato
Graphic designer. Graduated from the Department of French Literature at Sophia University in 2009 and the Graphic Design department at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in the Netherlands in 2020. She has lived in the Netherlands since then and has worked as a freelancer and for the Letterpress and Offset Print Workshop of the academy above since 2023. She designed Henri Jacobs’s book, New Surface Research (Roma Publications, 2024), with Roger Willems. The book was awarded the Best Book Design from all over the World 2025, Honorary Appreciation by Stiftung Buchkunst in Germany, and the Best Dutch Book Designs in the Netherlands.