Exhibitions themed around sewing and knitting are becoming an "in" thing in the art scene these days in Japan. Each exhibition showcases works that exude the timeless splendor, warmth, and delight of handicrafts, despite being produced in the digital age. Departing from the conventions of ordinary fancywork, these works explore new modes of expression.

A Cute "Knitting Cafe""Knit Cafe In My Room by Mitsuharu Hirose and Minako Nishiyama" is an exhibition being held at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, in Ishikawa Prefecture until March 22, 2010. It is the product of a collaboration between Hirose Mitsuharu, a leading knitting artist, and Nishiyama Minako, whose forte is making works based on such keywords as kawaii ("cute") and pink.

In the middle of a pink-and-white room is a pavilion designed by Nishiyama and delicately embellished with Hirose's lacework, enshrining a knitted white high-heeled shoe. Visitors can relax around the room - there are chairs to sit in and fluffy white fake fur to stretch out on - or take part in a "Everyday Knit Project" for free. The project consists of knitting one of five flowers designed by Hirose, all of which the uninitiated can make in a snap. The flowers then become part of the exhibition, decorating the garden.

From July to September 2009, the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum also offered workshops for visitors in conjunction with the exhibition "Stitch by Stitch: Traces I Made with Needle and Thread." Small pieces embroidered by participants were linked together to complete a work envisioned by one of the artists, Ito Zon.

In "Stitch by Stitch," eight individual and group artists who all use needle and thread as their medium but otherwise have little in common presented works with highly contrasting themes and unique styles of expression. One of Tezuka Aiko's works, for example, was a large white cloth embroidered in fluorescent pink with various pictorial designs, in the back of which all of the threads hung together from the ceiling in one bundle. Berlin-based Takemura Kei, meanwhile, exhibited works that encompass memories and a love for people and objects. Inspired by the birth of Takemura's own child, one of the works depicts mothers concerned for their children with embroidered organdy.

Murayama Ruriko is another featured artist who has been grabbing attention with her Collective Charms series, which are made by overlaying copious amounts of beads, faux pearls, artificial flowers, ribbons, and other materials. Her contribution to the exhibition included lacquered models of her own hands embedded with a variety of decorative materials. The materials are laid out in a form suggestive of blood vessels, producing an effect that hovers strikingly between beauty and grotesqueness. While using materials that are in themselves pretty, Murayama uses them in ways that express something on a plane far removed from simple cuteness.

The Body as a Canvas"Made by Hand: Hanae Mori and Young Artists" is an exhibition of works selected by the pioneering fashion designer Mori Hanae. Featuring handcrafted works designed to cover the body, to be pulled on, or that otherwise use the body as a canvas, "Made by Hand" was held from July to August 2009 in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, and in the Omotesando neighborhood of Tokyo in September.

The Japanese language has different verbs to describe the action of wearing different things, and Uenobe Tetsuya expressed the verb haku, meaning "to put on (footwear)," with playful works that give a novel twist to the theme of shoes. Macho na Tedii (Macho Teddy Bear) consists of a teddy bear in shoes standing atop a human sandal, while Ashi o Tsukamu Te (Hand Grasping the Foot) depicts hands grasping the heel and around the toes.

Suzuki Chie submitted modern renditions of geta, or traditional Japanese clogs. The simplicity of Cinderella, with its transparent material and black thong, stands in stark contrast to the gaiety of Shibuya, which is ornamented with flower and butterfly designs in a floridity evocative of the youth hangout to which its title refers.

Kiyokawa Asami, meanwhile, directly embroiders onto photographs. The exhibited works convey the complex feelings of women by penetrating the paper surface with beads, spangles and thread. Punctured by the needle, the works express the juxtaposition of a sense of inferiority and a love for the self. (December 2009)