Sekine Maki（）
Embroiderer (1983- )
Born in 1967 in Nibutani, Biratori Town, Hokkaido. As the daughter of attus weaving artist Yukiko Kaizawa, she helped with the family craft shop, Kaizawa Mingei, from childhood and worked at folk craft shops in Sapporo. Later, she returned to Nibutani and began seriously producing crafts. She started with making ita (flat wooden trays), then expanded to embroidery, attus weaving, and knitting. In recent years, while designing various products using Ainu patterns, she also produces her own lines, further broadening her activities.
Her designs, born from extensive experience in traditional Ainu crafts across a wide range of genres, are attractive for their fusion of traditional Nibutani-based Ainu patterns with modern items, and have many fans nationwide. Examples include collaborations with other traditional crafts such as Koshu Inden, Yuki Tsumugi, Imabari towels; product development with actor Arata Iura; goods for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters baseball team; designs for Coca-Cola bottle cans and vending machines; pick designs for TAKURO of the Japanese rock band GLAY; bus designs for the Upopoy (Symbolic Space for Ethnic Harmony) park shuttle and the 2020 Sapporo sightseeing bus "Setapukusa"; and participation in the collaborative product development project of "Nibutani Ainu Craft" (2020), among other ways expressing Ainu patterns.
At the same time, she continues to maintain her role as a traditional craft artist by, for example, embroidering on attus woven by her mother Yukiko Kaizawa. Through various opportunities and media, she disseminates information not only about traditional Ainu crafts but also about Ainu culture. In the past, she taught at the Nibutani Children's Ainu Language Class (now run by her husband Kenji Sekine) and has been involved in Ainu cultural promotion activities at schools inside and outside Biratori. In 2023, together with her daughter Maya Sekine, she founded Katak LLC, which also handles works by young artists and focuses on fostering the next generation.
She is the representative partner of Katak LLC and a member of the Nibutani Folk Craft Cooperative.
She also serves on committees of various museums throughout Hokkaido.
Hokkaido Ainu Traditional Craft Exhibition (Public Interest Incorporated Association Hokkaido Ainu Association, formerly Hokkaido Utari Association)
1985, 1994, 1995, 1999 – Encouragement Award
1988, 1993 – Excellence Award
1992 – Special Award
2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 – Encouragement Award
2012 – Top Award (Governor of Hokkaido Prize)
*Note: The current Public Interest Incorporated Association Hokkaido Ainu Association was known as Incorporated Association Hokkaido Utari Association until 2008, then changed to Incorporated Association Hokkaido Ainu Association in 2009, and took its current name in 2014.
katak×bee Crafts Shop
76-1 Nibutani, Biratori-cho, Saru-gun, Hokkaido 055-0101, Japan
TEL (Domestic): 090-6217-8449
TEL (International): +81-90-6217-8449
Online Store https://katakaynu.official.ec/
Instagram @katak_aynu_official
Sekine Maki
Instagram @maki8477
X @nonno43899406
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/maki.sekine.737