Nei’s Labo

Hello from Japan. I have seen sixty springs in Japan. My name has the sound "Kiku" in it, which means chrysanthemum in Japanese. Perhaps that is why I have always paid attention to flowers, and to the small changes in each season. In Japan, the old calendar divides the year into seventy-two microseasons, each lasting only about five days. These are the seasons I grew up with: the first warbler's song, the plums turning yellow in the rain, the frost on a winter morning. I made my first calendar to share that quiet way of seeing the year with people around the world. Nei's Labo is my small creative studio. My work is inspired by an old Japanese phrase, kachō fūgetsu (花鳥風月): flowers, birds, wind and moon, the beauty of nature through the seasons. Each design is made in Japan, and every Japanese word is translated with care. I hope my work brings a moment of calm to your everyday life, one small season at a time.