Interview by Haruko Kohno
Photos courtesy of Eri Watanabe
Flowers and leaves are drawn with thin black lines on a white canvas. The lines appear to be slightly wavering. Upon closer inspection, you will notice that they are threads embroidered using a sewing machine. One step closer to the canvas, and your movement causes the end of the threads hanging from the canvas to move just slightly. Instantly, the embroidered scenery seems to come to life.
This is the work of Eri Watanabe who works under the name “Nutel.” With a sewing machine, instead of a pen, Eri draws freely on fabric, creating a variety of two-dimensional and semi three-dimensional work, as well as doll figures.
Eri was born in a town rich in nature in Shiga Prefecture to parents who ran a sewing factory where she spent her years until graduating from high school. Coming back from school, she would always find piles of shirts all over the house; sewing machines and fabrics were a part of her daily scenery.
After studying textiles at a two-year college in Kyoto, Eri decided to work for her aunt's design company in Tokyo. There, she became involved in a wide range of product design and found her days to be fulfilling for the next 20 years.
However, when her career had blossomed to the point where she was asked to take over the company, Eri had a gut feeling that she was ready for something new.
“I really gave a lot of thought to my life for the first time and asked myself if I wanted to continue working in design, and I felt something wasn’t right. A part of me had always longed to be an artist, too. That was when I felt that I should go independent. I thought I should show the people who cared about me that I was ready to do something new and that I was going to enjoy doing it.”
What Eri had in mind was to create artwork using a sewing machine, which she had been working on little by little alongside her day job. It all started when a friend who owns a record label asked her to design an album jacket for a British artist.
“When I was given this project, I wondered what would happen if I used an industrial sewing machine to draw, instead of a pencil or pen. And so, I tried sewing a simple bird-shape on a plain piece of fabric. At first, it was difficult and time-consuming to draw a curve, but that was all very interesting and fun to me.”
Thereafter, Eri worked on several more album cover designs. She also had chance encounters with other embroidery artists, collaborated with them, and the possibilities of machine embroidery began to blossom. Through a process of trial and error, she arrived at her current forms of expression.
After becoming independent, she took the name “Nutel.”
“Nutel actually means ‘sewing’ in my native Shiga dialect. When I was thinking about a business name that would suit me, it suddenly occurred to me that if I said it in my local language, it would be, ‘I’m nuteru (sewing)…which sounds like nutel…’ and then I had a eureka moment! I thought it would be interesting to put the accent on the first sound (instead of the second) and to write it in alphabet so that the original word would be lost. Well, if I asked my fellow locals, they’d notice it right away, but! (laughs)”
Some of Eri’s work use wires parts that cast a subtle shadow onto the canvas and surrounding walls and create a unique sense of semi three-dimensionality.
Eri’s main subjects are plants, animals, and people. She finds images in her native mountains and everyday life, and when combined with her childhood obsession of imagining things, she creates a unique world that can neither be described as reality nor as fantasy.
“Since I was a child, I have always liked to play with my imagination, looking at trees and clouds and wondering what other images they conjure. Even now, I like to take everyday motifs, expand my imagination, and recreate them into other worlds, like turning deer antlers and horse manes into plants, or drawing animals like they are human.”
Eri’s creative process begins by making sketches of nature and people, and then working on her fabric base before the actual embroidering. She applies acrylic gouache onto her canvas fabric, and pastes pieces of paper she tore out of antique foreign books to create a foundation for the fabric. The black ink of the printed material can be made out just slightly through the acrylic paint, creating a unique shade and texture.
Eri’s doll figures are made from patterns which are sewn together like creating a piece of clothing. Here, a black and white swan paired together create a beautiful contrast.
Using No.90 spun thread with her Berlina home sewing machine, Eri tries, as far as possible, to sew her image with one stroke. The process looks amazingly smooth when she moves the fabric under the needle to create her desired image. The simple trails of threads rise up like unique brushstrokes because the rich texture of the foundation, precise composition, and free movement of threads all work in harmonious combination.
Eri explains, “I really spend time thinking about the composition. I try to leave ample blank space, and try not to complete the motif within the canvas so that the viewer can feel that there is something beyond the canvas, that a story might unfold from there. (Pointing to the work) See how this cat ends halfway at the tail, as if it is walking out of the canvas? I leave it up to the viewer to imagine the rest, I mean, it could be a dog, too. (laughs)”
The canvas piece on the wall shows an animal with a tail, which could be a cat…or a dog. The viewer is invited to bring in their own imagination to appreciate the work.
The monochrome expression is another playful tactic that leaves leeway for the viewer to freely interpret the work as they wish. “What I’m doing is turning sketches into stitches. I believe the viewer's imagination stretches further when I use monochrome. Some people say that black stitches actually evoke color. For example, with flowers, it doesn't matter if they are red or blue. While I am creating the work, it is my work, but when it’s done, it’s up to the viewers to imagine it as they like,” she says.
This year marks the 10th year of Nutel's activities. Eri engages in a wide range of activities, from live sewing, where she sews by improvisation in front of the audience alongside a musician performing, to exhibitions held in various locations. In the near future, she hopes to create large-scale installations and participate more in exhibitions overseas. However, what remains most important to her, she says, is to interact with the viewers through her work.
"Is this girl in a dreamy state? What is she thinking? It’s really interesting how viewers can see this in their own way," Eri says.
“I want people to feel something through my work. Sometimes the people who buy my work tell me how they felt when they first saw my work, and that emotion can be in surprisingly similar to how felt when I was making it. When people tell me that they feel calm or cheered up, it makes me happy to know that my work was able to be there for them.”
Eri Watanabe
Sewing artist. Graduated from the Textile Department of the Kyoto Saga University of Arts. Eri started freehand machine embroidery from around 2003. Her main motifs are everyday scenery, imaginative scenery, flora and fauna, and people. She embroiders in the manner of sketching pictures, creating a range of works on canvas and figurative objects. Nutel means “sewing” in her native Shiga dialect.
Website:
https://nutel.jp
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/nutel_eri/
Eri occasionally hosts exhibitions of other artists at her studio, Nutelier:
https://www.instagram.com/nutelier_atelier
Nutel exhibition
“Cool Old Man”
giggy2 (Kochi prefecture)
March 15 (Sat) – 22 (Sat), 2025
https://www.instagram.com/giggy2_/
Nutel exhibition
“Hamon”
IDEE Shop Jiyugaoka store 4th floor
IDEE GALLERY AND BOOKS
May 23 (Fri) – June 23 (Mon), 2025