Hi, my name is Yoriko Oki. I am originally from Japan and have been living in Canada since mid 90s.

I am a dyer, weaver, knitter, and overall fibre art enthusiast. My mission is to inspire, liberate, and empower my fellow fibre artists through my work so that they can keep enjoying the crafts they love.

I admit that I am a slow learner. Although I enjoyed working with yarn and fibre since I was small and grew up surrounded by rich history of textile, my path to get where I am now was not straightforward.

I was originally trained and practiced as an architect in Japan where I hit a glass ceiling early in my career. I moved to Canada and earned master’s degree in architecture from University of British Columbia. After finishing my master’s program, I worked as a freelance translator specializing in IT and building engineering. In 1999, I graduated from Helen Lefeaux School of Fashion Design with honor, where I rediscovered my love of textiles.

In 2004, I joined Fibre Art Studio On Granville Island – a shared textile studio/gallery shop in Vancouver. I started dyeing yarns for my own weaving projects and started offering them to other fibre art lovers as my yarns soon caught their eyes.

In 2014, after my husband suddenly became critically ill, I thought about the meaning of my life and decided to make my fibre art business as my fulltime job. I opened an online shop on Etsy in 2016 offering hand dyed yarn. In 2019, I participated in Vogue Knitting Live Launch Pad program – small business accelerator program for fibre art businesses – which lead to many other opportunities.

I always describe myself as a “forever work in progress.” I am looking forward to finding out what unrolls in front of my eyes next!