Lena Okamoto — Artist Profile

Kimono,
living on
beyond time.

Kimono, reborn as contemporary art

When a kimono's life as clothing ends, it lives on as art in contemporary spaces. ikasu — Japanese for “to let live” — is a textile art brand founded by an artist from abroad who has made Japan home for over twenty years.

Concept filmikasu ~kimono re-created~ · youtu.be/HwkxOGXZ65c

ikasu / bonobo LLC · Artist: Lena Okamoto
www.kimono-ikasu.com

A four-panel work of red and white cranes flying above waves, hung on a coral wall
Cranes through Generations, 2024Two formal tomesode kimono, one Taishō and one Shōwa, joined in a single composition
Lena Okamoto in kimono, turning towards the camera in front of a golden ginkgo tree

Lena Okamoto

岡本 レーナ

ARTIST / FOUNDER — ikasu

Artist

Carrying the memory of kimono into contemporary spaces.

Textile artist based in Tokyo, and founder of the art brand ikasu.

She reconstructs antique kimono whose original role has ended, letting them live on as art that endures beyond time. The memories, craftsmanship and stories held in each cloth are translated into works for contemporary spaces — made to be passed on to the next generation.

She holds a bachelor's degree in Japanese cultural studies and a master's degree from the University of Tokyo. A certified Kimono Meister with a background in advertising, she brings traditional technique and a contemporary eye together in tactile, emotionally resonant works on the themes of memory, identity and transformation. Each one-of-a-kind work brings together traditional craft and contemporary design, environmental responsibility and cultural value. To date, ikasu works have reached more than twenty countries.

PROFILE

Based in
Tokyo (over 20 years in Japan)
Education
Art school graduate; BA in Japanese cultural studies
MA, the University of Tokyo (Japanese Government MEXT Scholarship)
Experience
Creative at a major advertising agency
Ogilvy & Mather Creative School, graduated top of class
Certification
Kimono Meister
Lena Okamoto leaning against a studio wall, with a framed work resting on the floor beside her

Statement

The world, it seems to me, keeps moving faster.
What is new is given value, and what is old quietly comes to the end of its role.
Yet textiles keep all of it just as it was — the warmth of someone's hands, the air of a life lived, memories that were never put into words.

I grew up where things were not easy to come by.
Food, clothes, tools — we used them until they wore away.
If something tore, we mended it; if a stain would not come out, the cloth became a cleaning rag; and even what had rotted went back into the earth to feed the next life.

Nothing was wasted.
Nothing could be.

So for me, upcycling is not a decorative word.
It names a way of seeing — receiving something as not yet finished.

When having more and moving faster are what matter most, I think we lose our own space, little by little — the room to breathe.
It is a sad thing to lose that room and feel the strain of it.

That is why I believe we need to stop now and then, and remember what it is to have enough.

My works are not made to assert anything. I hope they are simply there — something that catches your eye in the middle of an ordinary day, and lets you take a breath.

— Lena Okamoto

Philosophy

Not preservation, but transformation.

ikasu means “to let live.” A kimono that has finished its role is taken apart, its motifs read for their meaning, and remade as a one-of-a-kind work for a contemporary room. Even the frame is reclaimed wood from the paulownia chest that once protected the kimono.

Lena Okamoto choosing cloth in front of shelves stacked with kimono

STEP 01

Find & read

Kimono are sourced from private households, kimono dealers and antique markets — each one a once-in-a-lifetime encounter. As a certified Kimono Meister, the artist reads it for its era, dyeing and weaving technique, and the meaning of its motifs.

Lena Okamoto unpicking the seams of a kimono spread across a table

STEP 02

Unpick & cut

A single kimono is taken apart into its component pieces. Every cloth differs in character and in how it has aged, and with one-of-a-kind material there is no second attempt: where the cut falls decides the work.

Lena Okamoto laying gold leaf onto a work

STEP 03

Recompose

Cloth from different eras and different owners meets in one composition. Washi paper, gold and silver leaf and acrylic are layered to make the layers of time visible.

The corner of a frame made from reclaimed paulownia chest wood

STEP 04

Frame in paulownia

In Japan, a paulownia tree was traditionally planted when a daughter was born, and made into a chest when she married. That wood, its role now over, becomes the frame — the tree that protected the kimono becoming part of the work.

Works

Selected works

A four-panel work of pine-patterned cloth divided by gold lines, hung on a deep green wall

Pine Forest ~Longevity~

90 × 100 cm

Pine is a symbol of long life. Three pieces of obi sash fabric over a century old, joined by gold lines inspired by kintsugi and framed in wood from an antique chest.

A work of blue kimono cloth in a grid composition, hung in a room with blue walls and a blue sofa

Kobachi ~Marine~

85 × 63 cm

Lapis lazuli is one of the seven treasures of Buddhism. This work gathers only the blues long held to be noble and sacred.

A triptych of kasamatsu pine patterned cloth, hung on a golden yellow wall

Pines Through Seasons

Triptych / approx. 20 × 60 cm each

Three panels born from three different kimono. The same kasamatsu (umbrella-shaped pine) motif, each in a different season. Pine stands for long life and good health.

Beyond wall pieces, works can be made for columns, chair backs, fixtures and other elements, tailored to the space.

Exhibitions

From Tokyo to Dubai, Kuala Lumpur and Miami

Lena Okamoto walking past a row of reconstructed kimono works in an exhibition space

ISETAN SALONE, Tokyo Midtown (2024)

Lena Okamoto in antique kimono, working on a piece outdoors at night, with the ikasu and Four Seasons logos above

Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach — invitation-only event hosted by Sea Fu (2025)

ikasu works lining the walls of an art fair booth

World Art Dubai, Dubai World Trade Centre

Framed and circular works displayed in a bookstore gallery surrounded by wooden shelving

Daikanyama T-SITE, Tsutaya Books art gallery (2024)

Circular works made from kimono cloth, lit in a grid of niches in a hotel lounge

THE LIVELY Tokyo Azabujuban (2026)

Selected exhibitions, awards and background

Exhibitions

2026
THE LIVELY Tokyo Azabujuban
2026
sequence MIYASHITA PARKShibuya, Tokyo
2025
Isetan Kuala Lumpur, “Tanseikai”Invitation-only event, Malaysia
2025
Four Seasons Resort DubaiInvitation-only event hosted by Sea Fu, UAE
2025
AKOMEYA TOKYOKagurazaka, Tokyo
2024
ISETAN SALONETokyo Midtown
2024
Daikanyama T-SITE, Tsutaya BooksArt gallery, Tokyo
2023
Tokyo American Club
2023
TakashimayaKyoto, Osaka, Nihonbashi, Shinjuku, Yokohama
2023
Shibuya PARCO

Art Fairs

2026
Spectrum MiamiDuring Art Basel Miami Beach week; participation confirmed
2025
DiarBid Art House AuctionDubai
2025
World Art DubaiDubai World Trade Centre
2024
World Art DubaiDubai World Trade Centre

Awards

2025
Art Collide Art PrizeFinalist
2025
Redwood Art PrizeFinalist, USA
2024
Mr. & Mrs. Abe Arts & Culture Prize
2024
Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Industrial and Labor Affairs Director's PrizeJapan Handmade of the Year 2024
2024
5th All Japan Art CompetitionHonorable Mention

Background

2023
Certified as a Kimono Meister
2019
Founded ikasu
2015
Independent advertising creativeGoogle, TOYOTA, Uber Eats and others
2014
Major advertising agencyCreative producer
2014
MA, the University of TokyoJapanese Government MEXT Scholarship
2013
TBWA\HAKUHODOCreative internship
2013
Ogilvy & Mather Creative SchoolGraduated top of class

Media

Nikkei MJ, ZOZO NEXT, NewsPicks, CLASSY, J-WAVE, Arab News Japan, Japan Today, SoraNews24, Business Art News, J-CAST and others — featured in over 100 media outlets in Japan and abroad.