Overview
What started as a unique Japanese crochet art only a few decades ago, amigurumi is now spreading like wild fire across the globe. RESOBOX, as a Japanese cultural community center located in New York, is bringing back the celebration of amigurumi with a new theme by a diverse selection of artists.
Amigurumi are normally used only as cute dolls for display. This year, we’ve decided to explore wider possibilities of amigurumi with the World Amigurumi Exhibition, with unique shapes and innovative ideas. As a result, we are stepping out of the ordinary and asking artists to create amigurumi products that can be used in daily life. Every day objects such as hair brushes, wallets, scarves, tissue box covers were submitted to our exhibition this year! In total, we’ve gathered pieces from 120 artists and 40 countries who have thought of their own creations to be useful in daily life.
See how diverse and different amigurumi can be at the World Amigurumi Exhibition vol. 4!
Find out how Mookie rediscovers himself in different shapes!
In The Press
- Experience A Tight-Knit World of Amigurumi at ResoBox in LIC by Joe DiStefano on About Travel
- World Amigurumi Exhibition 2: Crocheted Culture Celebration! Blog by Petits Pixels (French version)
- All Around the World by Inside Crochet Magazine
What are Amigurumi?
Amigurumi (lit. crocheted or knitted stuffed toy) is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and anthropomorphic creatures. The word is derived from a combination of the Japanese words ami, meaning crocheted or knitted, and nuigurumi, meaning stuffed doll. Amigurumi are typically animals, but can include artistic renderings or inanimate objects endowed with anthropomorphic features, as is typical in Japanese culture. (Wikipedia)
Amigurumi stems from animism, a philosophy in the foundations of many Japanese traditions and customs. Animism is the belief that gods belong to everything: water, food, nature, buildings and houses, even technology. In Japanese, this is called Yaoyorozu no Kami. In fact, Japanese people often put eyes, arms, and legs onto non-human objects and give them imaginary lives in order to feel closer to these objects and show them respect as co-existing partners in this world.
As a Japanese cultural center located in Queens, NY, one of the most diverse cultural areas in the world, RESOBOX Gallery wants to explore how the ideas of animism and amigurumi are perceived in other places internationally.
Go on a video tour of last year’s World Amigurumi Exhibition!
Contributors
Helen E. Moss (Mookie’s Mother)
AmigurumiPatterns.net (Website | Facebook)
Lumièna (Website | Facebook)
Lemo (Website | Facebook)
Where in the World Are Our Amigurumi Artists?
