Shirley Berlin loves to teach kumihimo and other narrow wares workshops. She is particularly interested in basic kumihimo and its myriad variations: texture, thick and thin, distortion, adding bumps or beads, beginnings and endings. With time, she has come to appreciate that the foam disc has more possibilities than she first thought.
Shirley has been braiding since the 1980s and is a founding member of both AKS and the Braid Society. She and husband Peter make marudais and tama in Canada. She can answer the question “That’s nice, dear, but what do you do with it?”
Shirley was born in and currently lives in Canada and has lived around the world: Sweden, Holland, Germany, France, Russia and England.
“Braider Bob” Galivan has been actively braiding for about 15 years. Bob has always enjoyed working with his hands and came to braiding by accident years ago through a beaded braid class with Adrienne Gaskell, where he became enamored of braiding (not so much of the beads…). He pursued a course of self-study and studied with several instructors, including Makiko Tada, Rodrick Owen, Michael Hattori, and Jacqui Cary (among many others). He traveled to Japan three times, including a trip to the International Braiding Conference in 2019, where he was honored to serve on the faculty. Bob was also on the faculty at the former Bead & Button show and has taught for the South Florida Jewelry Arts Guild and the American Kumihimo Society, for which he was a founding member.
“I enjoy working with Japanese (Kumihimo) and Andean braid structures, and often pursue braiding using alternate materials, such as wire or non-traditional fibers. On my 2nd visit to Japan, I learned Karakumi braiding, and most recently, the basics of the Ayataka-dai. Early in my career, I developed beaded versions of Makiko Tada’s Anda-gumi braid and her Leno (also Anda) braid. Currently, I am exploring dimensional structures using various braiding techniques. In addition to braiding, I dabble in tablet weaving, wire crochet, Viking knit, and chain-making to incorporate into my braids.”
Originally from Miami, Florida, Bob relocated to Cleveland, Ohio, in 2018, where he found that living in a 100+ year-old house presents a whole new set of challenges!
Adrienne Gaskell’s innovations explore the ancient Japanese art of kumihimo. Her jewelry incorporates gemstones, pearls, and beads and has been featured in “Showcase 500 Art Necklaces” by Lark Books, Bead&Button’s Bead Dreams competition, and the Toho Design Challenge. She exhibits at juried art shows and galleries across the county. Her teaching resume includes Braids 2012 in Manchester England, Braids 2016 in Tacoma, WA, Bead & Button show since 2006, Japanese Kumihimo Society and Toho Bead Company in Kyoto, Tokyo, and Hiroshima Japan. Adrienne’s popular DVDs, Beaded Kumihimo on the Marudai, and More Beaded Kumihimo on the Marudai were the first instructional videos for braiding with beads on the marudai.
Adrienne’s website: www.kumihimoresource.com
Adrienne is an AKS Past President
Yin Guang is a highly skilled creative designer with over 10 years of experience teaching Kumihimo at national shows. She has conducted virtual classes for both the American Kumihimo Society and Virtually Ever Crafting (VEC). Yin’s dedication to teaching, coupled with her supportive attitude towards assisting individuals in completing their projects, has earned her widespread appreciation from her students.
Ancient Moon
Giovanna Imperia is the author of Kumihimo Wire Jewelry and many articles on braiding and weaving. Her work has been exhibited and is included in private and museum collections throughout the United States and internationally. Giovanna’s work focuses on the exploration of tactile and organic nature of fiber while pushing the boundaries of the expected definition of body adornment and 3D objects. This is accomplished by actively involving the user through the concept of “transformation” – the idea of actively engaging the user in shaping and transforming the art piece.
Giovanna is the AKS Past President
Kristen MacDowell has been doing handcrafts most of her life. Thanks to Mom, she learned counted cross stitch and micro macrame around age 9, then dabbled in many other materials and techniques including paper arts, machine knitting, glass fusing and enamel, metal smithing, fabric dyeing and much more.
She discovered Kumihimo about 15 years ago and has been teaching jewelry making since 2012. She loves to mix colors, textures and techniques to create unique statement pieces. Her philosophy: “Enjoy the process. Don’t be scared to try something. If it doesn’t work, rip it apart, make a change and start over.”
She and her husband own WhimBeads.com
Kristen is currently the AKS Website Director
Rosalie Neilson has been making kumihimo braids for more than 35 years. In 1980, she visited a Tokyo kimono factory, became enamored with kumi braids, took a private class, and came home with a marudai, kakudai, and two instruction books written in Japanese. Throughout the years she has developed into a true master of the art with exquisite designs using both color and geometry.
She became intrigued by the number of ways a braider could use two colors with the Hira Kara Gumi braid and ultimately published the Thirty-Seven Interlacements of Hira Kara Gumi in 1998. This was followed by the Twenty-Four Interlacements of Edo-Yatsu Gumi. A third book Kongō Gumi: A Cacophony of Spots – Coils – Zags – Lines, published in 2013, documents 1,157 variations of the 16-element braid using just two colors. These are true labors of passion and kumihimo love!
Her recent focus is applying the layouts of Kongō Gumi to 16-element Naiki and Naiki Gaeshi.
Visit Rosalie’s website at https://www.rosalieneilson.com/
Carolyn Oliver Haushalter has been making jewelry for two decades. In 2006, she discovered kumihimo and it became her favorite technique and obsession. Her favorite braids combine traditional techniques with modern materials. Three years later she began teaching, working with students from all over the world to share her love of the art. Her classes for improving your marudai skills and taking a new approach to classic kumihimo books are available through The American Kumihimo Society. Articles by her have been published in many magazines and journals.
She has taught classes for the AKS Gatherings 2018, 2020 and 2024 and the 2021 and 2022 Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival, as well as bead stores and societies. She is the event coordinator and former co-chair of Pittsburgh’s Premier Bead Society: OCBPA.
Carolyn is currently the AKS Vice President
Randy Spicocchi has been a dedicated student of Kumihimo since 2016 and has taught extensively through private instruction, as well as in his role as a teaching artist with the Hawaiʻi Handweavers Hui since 2022.
Grounded in a deep respect for Kumihimo’s Japanese origins, Randy’s work explores contemporary approaches to bead integration, expanding the design possibilities of what he refers to as Kumihimo 2.0, with a focus on structural and beaded design.
Under his brand, Akalei Designs, he has developed an approach to Kumihimo that emphasizes structure, flow, and the natural emergence of form.
Based on Maui, Hawaiʻi, Randy’s “Forever Lei” designs reinterpret traditional lei forms through Kumihimo, incorporating fiber, shells, gemstones, pearls, lampwork glass, and other materials into richly textured, one-of-a-kind jewelry designs.
www.akaleidesigns.com
Japan’s Makiko Tada is largely responsible for the growing international interest in the art of Kumihimo braiding. She creates designs from both traditional patterns and from her own original designs and is an expert on the long history of kumihimo. After restoring ancient national treasure braids from the Kyoto National Museum, she dedicated them to Kasuga Taisha Shrine and Hayatama Shrine.
Makiko Tada conducts research and lectures in Europe, North and South America, Asia, and Australia and authored the seven-volume “Comprehensive Treatise of Braids”. While completing her Doctorate of Engineering at Kyoto Institute of Technology she received funding from the Japanese government to invent a new braiding machine for composite materials. This machine will be vital for making components for the construction and aerospace industries.
Dr. Makiko Tada’s 60 years of research, artistry, authorship, and invention assure the art of Kumihimo braiding will touch and enrich many lives across the world.
Japan’s Masumi Tada, the daughter-in-law of internationally recognized kumihimo artist Makiko Tada, has studied kumihimo braiding techniques for more than 20 years, and has worked as Makiko’s assistant for four years. Masumi received a doctoral degree in the replication of ancient historic Japanese braids, contributing to Japanese national treasure restorations. Her studies have included techniques of marudai, takadai, ayatakadai, disk, plate, and Kute-uchi loop braiding, which she sees as the core technique from which many other Japanese braiding techniques evolved.
Japan’s Yuko Yoshida is a kumihimo artist, teacher and reseacher. Kumihimo attracted her at first encounter in 2009. Since 2012, she studied with Makiko Tada. While mainly making Obijime for Kimono with traditional patterns, she also focuses on creative works. She favors Maru-dai, Taka-dai, and create original braids inspired by traditional techniques.
Yuko has developed her skills over many years of studying and practice. For that she has received the title of Takumi (master craft person) from Tokusaburo Hirosawa — who was in charge of kumihimo in Iga.