I’m Melanie. I have been living in Japan since I was 13, which means that I’ve lived in Japan for much longer than I lived in France.

People often ask me if I came to Japan to study indigo, but I didn’t. I lived here and slowly indigo made its way into my life. In 2017, I met two very important people in my life. Miki Totsuka, who is an artist and who teaches a course about indigo from seed to dye. She taught me the basics of everything to do with indigo making. My other teacher, Ms. Murai, is my shibori teacher.

Through indigo, all my senses are satisfied! I love living with the seasons through indigo, the mystery of sukumo making, holding shibori needles, dyeing of course, but it is like there is no beginning or end, and I do not have a favorite, either a goal, everything is a cycle and one could not be without the other.

When I started growing indigo, I lived in Tokyo and quickly indigo took over my super tiny apartment, I had leaves drying in my bathroom etc… so I looked for a new place for a while and ended up finding an old Japanese house with well water, surrounded by rice fields, and with a big field that became my indigo field.

and so this is where I am now! The place is called Misakicho, and it is in Okayama.