Each piece is embroidered entirely by hand, with small stitches scattered across the cloth the way stars are scattered across the sky. There is no template and no repeating pattern. Every mark is placed by eye and intuition, so no two pieces are alike.

The thread is antique Nishijin silk from Kyoto, the city’s historic textile district, known for centuries of fine silk work. Old silk thread has a depth and softness of color that is hard to find in new thread, and it catches the light differently as the piece moves.

Each piece takes many hours of slow handwork, 30-35 hours for the hanten and 6-7 hours for the scarf, and is made to order in limited production.

The hanten and scarf are stitched on traditional Kurume crepe woven by Kuwano Shinken, a third-generation weaver in Kurume. The crossbody phone pouch is stitched in the same thread on deadstock cotton canvas.