About me

Yuh works with several quality textiles and processes including silk and Shibori. Yuh creates stunning surfaces that project three-dimensional illusions.

Her scarves are fun and fanciful, soft with flow and energy, bringing to mind features of coral and sea animals immersed underwater. Yuh learned her basic design skills in Tokyo, and then came to the US and completed her education at the Rhode Island School of Design. She has shared her ideas and taught all over the world.

In the late 90’s Yuh’s distinct ability and flair began attracting prominent clients. Her expertise and work were sought by fashion and fiber art. Her creations were included in Donna Karan and Martha Stewart's collections. Shortly thereafter, TextilesYuh was born.

From her new studio in Chestertown MD, (Brooklyn New York-based for 20 years), Yuh continues to develop and define her exceptional concepts, including “Structure and Surface,” a contemporary Japanese textile at the Museum of Modern Art NY. Yuh exhibits extensively in Japan and the United States.

“Like a gentle breeze that rustles the leaves; the scent in the air, fresh from a thunderstorm; the soft patter of raindrops on cool, wet grass; falling leaves, as they twirl through the sky.

Like a sound, weightless and free; a colored sky, where shapes and shadows float away.

This is a sea of far-off memories, unbridled sensations that give birth to infinite miracles. True to my personal beliefs and inspired by nature's unique sense of order, mine is a constant search to know things fully. To feel the intangible, to know the ephemeral- as if I were calmly opening up my memory to see my sensations.”

In Yuh’s art and design practice, her focus is first and foremost on the raw materials, interrogating either their latent qualities or their relationship with man and nature. She looks carefully at both the mysterious products of the natural world, and the artificial fabrics that can be freely created today thanks to a vast range of chemical technologies. Each work is developed by maintaining a close bond between Yuh’s artistic expression and the economic and creative value inherent in the material she uses.

Since 1991, her creations have come about by a combination of handwork craft and machine technology. She also has had commercial lines produced since 2000 in the world-renowned Kiryu, Japan, a place known for its precision textile crafters and their attention to detail.

Yuh Okano, a Brooklyn NY-based textile artist for 20 years, and in 2020, moved to Chestertown MD, whose pieces are inspired by a deep fascination with the natural world. Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art and is in its permanent collection https://www.moma.org/artists/23267. Yuh’s pieces are invitingly tactile. They employ a range of color and texture that strives to be as subtle and finely detailed as the organic forms her works suggest. Their soft feel and gently flowing shapes evoke a sense of connection with plant life, flowers, and ocean creatures.