There is a decorator who was born in Okayama City and is now active mainly in Kurashiki.
She is Seiko Nose, who celebrated 25 years as an artist in 2021.
Although she is called a “decorator,” what characterizes Seiko’s work is its three-dimensional form, with “a sense of life that seems to surge toward you.”
She creates many works using plants such as flowers and trees.
Some are quite dynamic, spanning more than 50 meters in width.
From gathering the materials herself, Seiko lives alongside flowers and is an artist who continues to be captivated by the world of plants.
To mark 25 years of decorative work, we interviewed her about her life as an artist.
From our conversation, it seemed that the way she creates and presents her work has changed considerably.
Take note, too, of the changes in her style, which reflect the perspective of a professional who understands the appeal of each plant.
The information presented here was current when this article was published in December 2021. Please note that it may differ from current information.
Decorator Seiko Nose
Seiko is a decorator from Okayama City who works mainly in Kurashiki.
While belonging to More Vision Tokyo, she is also active as a member of Zokei Shudan Nanigashi.
Raised at the live music venue “PEPPERLAND,” Seiko grew up surrounded by art and artists.
At a music event she attended as a student, she was drawn to the decoration of fabric paintings called batik.
“I want my paintings displayed here, too!” That was what inspired her to pursue a career as an artist.
Taking along batik she had painted herself, she would go to music events and make direct appeals—“Please let me decorate!”—as if challenging the established artists.
She unveiled her first venue decoration in 1996.
Today, in addition to display installations, private party decorations, and fire monument production, she also works as an art director for commercial shoots and print advertisements, and is active across a wide range of fields.
As her work expanded, so did the variety of venues and clients.
She has also created installations at the Ueno Museum of Art in Tokyo, Oita Prefectural Art Museum, and Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art.
For corporate projects and events, she has created decorations at more than 1,500 venues, including Mitsubishi Estate, Suntory, Zexy, au, Nihombashi Mitsukoshi, Yanase, Tokyo Tower, Niki Club, and Summer Sonic.
In the Bikan Historical Area, you can encounter Seiko’s work close at hand, such as floral arrangements and decorations at the entrances of Ohara House Katalyzer, Kurashiki Kama and Southern Italian Cuisine Hashimaya, and Wa no Kokoro Imagawa.
At Ohashi House, where Seiko has exhibited her work many times, an exhibition commemorating her 25th anniversary was also held.
“Flowers are living things. Because they’re alive, there’s something about them that comes toward you when they become part of a work,” Seiko says.
We asked her about her 25-year journey.
She adjusts the blooming of every plant needed for her work herself
“I wonder what an artist’s everyday life is like.”
With this simple question in mind, I asked her about her usual work routine.
“Whether I go to the flower market or go foraging depends on the day, but first, I gather the flowers in my studio.
Flowers are very delicate, and if they’re delivered directly to the venue where I’m setting up, some will be in bloom and others won’t.
To make sure they’re at their most beautiful when people see the work, I adjust their blooming myself, paying attention to each flower’s individual character.”
Seiko, who often works outside Okayama Prefecture, told us that “travel time and the venue’s environment are also crucial.”
“Especially on a shoot, the heat from the lights and equipment means that 20 percent of the flowers bloom during setup.
I carefully work backward from the weather, temperature, humidity, and travel time, and adjust the flowers myself so they’re at the point where ‘another 20 percent will bloom beautifully.’”
Seiko was adjusting the flowers’ blooming while making far more precise calculations than I had imagined.
It was clear that she had a great deal of knowledge about plants, even before considering her work as an artist.
When I was taken aback at the start of the interview, Seiko smiled and revealed, “They’re princesses, the flowers.”
“I have to make sure the flowers are as comfortable as possible.
I turn the air conditioning up in the car for the flowers, so even in warm weather I have to wear a down jacket.
On the other hand, I put flowers that I don’t want exposed to too much air conditioning toward the back of the car and cover them with plastic, and I humidify the ones that need it.”
Seiko described traveling to the setup venue as “a trip with the princesses.”
Captivated by the world of plants, she balanced working at a flower shop with her artistic career
Today, Seiko is a professional in both handling flowers and presenting them.
Seiko originally forged her path as an artist through batik-making. When did she first encounter flowers?
“I was captivated by flowers when I was around 23.
I was traveling overseas for several months and often went to Europe.
I remember being truly moved by the beautiful flower scenery I saw there.”
It seems the experience made such a strong impression that, after returning to Japan, she started working part-time at a flower shop.
She says she first entered the world of flowers simply because she “liked them based only on their appearance”—their cute faces, beauty, and lovely fragrance.
But working at a flower shop involved a lot of physical labor. “My body was really exhausted,” she recalled.
“My day started with catching the first train to the market, and working until nearly the last train was an everyday occurrence.
I was a hard worker, but as I learned about each flower’s individual character, I became captivated by the world of plants as a whole.
There are truly so many kinds of plants.
They’re organisms that adapt to all kinds of places—even in glacial environments, there are plants distributed underground.
I thought, ‘That’s just crazy,’” she said with a laugh.
“The genes that choose to live in a glacial world are amazing, aren’t they?”
At the flower shop, Seiko discovered the depth of the plant world and became increasingly captivated, despite the physical strain.
At the same time, she was working hard to build her career as an artist.
Through her work at music events and elsewhere, word of mouth spread among people in the music industry.
Her life as an artist gradually became busier, too.
Ten years passed in the blink of an eye, and around 2007, she sometimes crossed four prefectures in ten days, repeatedly setting up and taking down at seven event venues.
She was busier than ever, and it became normal for her to work at two or three venues every week, including weddings.
Surprisingly, she still didn’t quit her flower shop job.
“If I took time off from the flower shop, the owner wouldn’t be able to do the work they wanted to do.
And the flower shop work was important to me, too, so I never thought about quitting.”
At the time, Seiko was so busy that there were days she kept going on sheer willpower, but no matter how busy she was, looking at flowers soothed her.
“There’s a refrigerator called a ‘keeper’ where flowers are stored. The moment I open it, every flower shows me its alluring, beautiful form.
The light makes them sparkle, and their lovely fragrance envelops me all at once.
When I feel the flowers with my whole body, all my fatigue melts away.
It was a moment of bliss for me.”
Her gratitude toward the people who had supported her, and her heartfelt feeling that she loved flowers, poured out of Seiko.
Moving the focus of her work to Kurashiki. Her style changed after she left the flower shop
Today, Seiko is in high demand at many events.
She had expanded her work to Osaka and Tokyo, but moved the focus of her activities to Kurashiki in 2012.
It was a decision made after experiencing the Great East Japan Earthquake in Tokyo.
Leaving behind the flower shop job she had held onto no matter how busy she was and returning to her hometown became a major turning point that changed Seiko’s style.
“Looking back, when I worked at the flower shop, flowers were ‘products’.
It might be easiest to understand if you think of a bouquet, but my job was to make things that would appeal to everyone and make customers happy.
As an artist, too, I think I often created symmetrical decorative works.
It was a fun constraint, but when I quit the flower shop after returning to Kurashiki, all those constraints disappeared.
It was the moment when what I made changed from a ‘product’ into a ‘work of art’.
I also realized, ‘I don’t have to make everything neat and orderly.’”
Looking back, she says that until she returned to Kurashiki, she had naturally been “fitting things into a mold.”
But now, she says, she creates her work by instinct, without thinking it through.
Behind this “instinct,” it seems, she listens to the plants and senses how to bring out each one’s individuality.
“When I look at the shape of each plant, I’ve come to feel as if I can hear the plants saying, ‘I want to go here now!’
It’s as if I move closer to wherever the flower looks most beautiful.
Rather than fitting them into a design, I follow the plants’ voices, so I’m thinking less and less with my head.
I used to make only symmetrical works, but they naturally disappeared over time.
I’m really like a servant to the plants (laughs).
I make things by instinct and intuition, and I couldn’t be happier.”
She also said, “I may be losing interest in works that I want to make myself.”
“It’s fun to create while unexpected things happen.
For example, recently, a staff member at a site where I was working with them for the first time asked me, ‘Could you raise the base a little higher?’
Everyone says, ‘I’m sorry to say this to you, Sensei, but…’ Yet I’m happy when ideas I wouldn’t have thought of keep coming my way.
In fact, I want everyone to tell me anything they notice, and creating together with everyone is a joy from the heart.”
Because I gathered them myself, I can feel in my works the energy of plants imbued with intention and spirit
Twenty-five years of spending her life as an artist alongside flowers, and of transforming them from “products” into “works” through her love of flowers.
Looking back on her life as an artist, she shared a final message.
“The only thing I can say about reaching my 25th anniversary is, ‘It’s truly a miracle!’
It’s a specialized profession, and my style is unusual, so I’m still surprised every time I receive an offer.
I often travel across prefectural borders, and some works involve extended periods of working at heights, so I’m always close to danger.
There’s no other way to describe being alive today and continuing to create works than as a miracle.
I buy flowers myself, and I gather plants by getting permission to cut them in the mountains, so I believe the time and effort I put in imbue the plants with “intention” and “spirit”.
The moment they become a work, they become like a living being.
The story of how they’re sourced, brought to the venue, and made into a work becomes energy.
Unless you see the work in person, it’s hard to convey the energy it holds.
Photos and the real thing are completely different, so I’d be happy if you could feel the energy at the venue.”
From the Writer
Throughout the interview, Seiko’s love for plants was overflowing.
I felt that Seiko creates her work by instinct, listening to the plants, precisely because she has such a vast knowledge of plants gained while working at a flower shop.
Seiko is an artist with a very gentle way of speaking and a calm presence, while her works are all full of energy.
I think that contrast is part of her appeal.
I’m looking forward to seeing how Seiko, who has changed over the past 25 years, and her many works will continue to evolve.
There are many events in the Bikan Historical Area where Seiko handles the venue decorations.
Please come and experience the vitality of the plants through Seiko’s work in a place close to you.
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