Iki Yukari

Happy bouquets

• Iki's atelier is in an old Japanese house in Tokyo city centre
• She prefers local and seasonal flowers and wild arrangements
• She also produces natural dyes from her shop flowers waste

Back in 2010, when she opened her atelier, The little shop of flowers, Iki Yukari had a very naive idea of the flower business. A former PR for fashion brands and luxury hotels with a degree in interior design from San Francisco State University, she had no experience in the field: "I had neither worked in a flower shop before nor learned from a florist," she admits. "I was like a child, thinking that, along with fresh flowers, the only things I needed were a place to welcome customers, aluminium foils and wrapping paper." Which, of course, was not the case, she made many mistakes but in the end she learned from her failures. Years later, Iki has become an expert, and her atelier – set in an old Japanese house hidden in a quiet alley – is a gem of Tokyo city centre. But she remains humble and doesn’t like to call herself an artist.

Interview

©The Little Shop of Flowers

©The Little Shop of Flowers

How would you define what you do?

I’d rather call myself a shop owner than an artist: flowers have always been to me a sign of friendship and love more than self-expression. Assisting my customers is what truly makes me happy, staying behind the scenes while helping them to shine.

Have you developed any particular skills?

Since I opened the atelier, I’ve always tried to understand my customers’s needs and desires, so that I can turn them into the right bouquet or arrangement. I feel like a translator. And like a translator, I’m improving day by day thanks to the experience.

Can you describe your style in a nutshell?

I try to arrange flowers as if I was stealing them from wild meadows. There’s a strong Japanese component in it, too, as I tend to use local and seasonal varieties, to express and enhance the beauty of my country’s nature at every time of year.

How do you use natural dyeing?

During the pandemic, I needed to reduce the shop’s monthly garbage fee, which was high. So I came up with a simple solution: stop throwing flower waste away and turn it into something else. Since then, I’ve been selling small items and gifts, coloured with the natural dyes I produce myself.

Iki Yukari is a master artisan: she began her career in 2010 and she started teaching in 2015

Works

©The Little Shop of Flowers

©The Little Shop of Flowers

©The Little Shop of Flowers

©The Little Shop of Flowers

©The Little Shop of Flowers

Where