There’s something undeniably cool about Mikki Yamashiro’s crochet art. The artist, performer, and professional wrestler learned to crochet when she was a young teen and has been hard at work ever since.
“As a teenager, I learned how to crochet from my mom, Takako Yamashiro,” she told the Urban Outfitters blog. “Once I figured out that crochet could be so much more than scarfs and baby blankets, the possibilities were endless. I have been consistently crocheting since then, making costumes, bikinis, soft sculpture, wall hangings, pillows, giant portraits based on the Cathy comics…”
Now she shares her finished products (unique, playful, and always laid back) with her thousands of followers. Her creations aren’t meant to be perfectly crafted. In fact, they’re meant to be un-perfect, and that’s just the way she likes them.
“Crochet is so versatile and I want to use this medium in new ways,” she explained. “With so much being produced by machine, ‘perfection’ is no longer interesting to me. I used to strive for the ability and skill to be able to produce physically what I envisioned mentally. But now, the changes that occur in the translation from the imagination to material, feel exciting and human. I see what is lost or misinterpreted in translation as the interesting and unique part of the magic that is created when something is made by hand.”
Take a look at some of her work in the gallery below.
