Retrospective Nagano - A visit to a knitting studio in Nagano, Japan

I have visited many knitting studios and factories in my career and it never fails to delight. A place where things are crafted - things I love, like knitwear, fills me with happiness and inspiration. Yasuko's studio in Nagano, Japan was no exception.

I met Yasuko on Instagram and when I was planning my first trip to Japan last September (2023), I contacted her and asked if I could visit. She said yes!

Nagano is a short train ride from Tokyo and we booked to stay there for two nights.

Yasuko's first floor studio was easy to find and inside it was cool and calm - a welcome relief after the 95 degree temperatures outside.

Originally from Nagoya, Yasuko studied at the London College of Fashion with an emphasis on knitwear 16 years ago. She then worked as a fashion designer for an apparel company back in Japan for about 10 years, designing not just knitwear, but textiles and wovens for both men and womenswear.

After marrying and having three daughters, she moved to Nagano, where her husband is from originally, and set up her studio about 6 years ago. She sells her work to individuals and online, and also runs small machine knitting workshops with a friend from time to time. All of Yasuko's work is made on hand-operated knitting machines by her.

Despite most of the domestic machines we use today originating in Japan, machine knitting is not very popular there. Older models can be found second-hand and new machines are expensive. Plus, finding some-one to repair and service machines is not easy. Sound familiar?

In her studio, Yasuko has three industrial machines a 3gg, 7gg and 12gg. The brand name is Three Star and they are made in Japan. All are about 50 years old. They are similar to Dubied machines which both Yasuko and I learned to use at school. Like Dubieds they have high and low butt needles which can be arranged before knitting starts to create pattern and texture work. She also has a bulky gauge Silver Reed machine.

It is easier to find machine knitting yarn in Japan than the US. Yasuko uses some Japanese spinners as well as British, European and Chinese yarns for her garments.

All her work is fully fashioned and is both simple and sophisticated.
There are also some charming creatures!

I asked Yasuko to make me a sweater. We picked an existing style and tweaked the measurements slightly and I got to choose the color from the spinner's shade card. The finished piece arrived a couple of weeks after I got home and was beautifully wrapped. She included one of the bear lavender sachets.

I added elements of the package to my Japan sketchbook, along with one of her postcards.

Check out Yasuko's work here.

PS. Another thing, besides machine knitting, that Yasuko and I have in common - our fathers were wood-workers. Yasuko's father was a joiner during his career but turned to smaller pieces when he retired, My Dad made furniture and also some smaller pieces like turned bowls and chopping boards.