Dear Monokubo

As many of you are aware, one year ago we lost one of our founding members, Monokubo.

It is no exaggeration to say that without them, Harugo no Mayu would not exist.

This collective essentially began as an excuse for us to work with some of our most favourite artists, and Monokubo was one of the very first people we approached. As one of our founding members, they did not have the benefit or safety of checking the quality of previous collections, and I’m forever grateful that they understood what we were trying to do and helped us realise this vision by trusting us with several original pieces.

In their first work provided to us, “Spring”, they even entertained a very selfish request on my part to include a kuroshiba, as we have a kuroshiba here in the print studio.

I cried when I opened up the email and saw this piece for the first time, and from the many comments I’ve seen before and since it is clear this is a fairly common response to their work, which was frequently layered with hidden depths of emotion and careful poignant details. Their worlds felt like they were dripping with unexplained lore and possibilities. Looking into them galvanised me to work on ideas I didn’t even have yet. They made me want to be a more creative person.

Monokubo-san, I think your unique and powerful body of work will live on for a long time on our walls, in our bookshelves and in places far more primal than that. I cannot express how much our brief collaboration continues to mean to me. Rest well.