Collaborations with Thinkers
Where ideas become gateways to bring communities together. Maki Aizawa engages in living dialogue with artists, philosophers, spiritual leaders, and cultural stewards — exploring new ways of being and creating, rooted in ancestral wisdom and spirituality.
Judy Tuwaletstiwa
Reinterpreting Frog Dreaming through a Japanese cultural lens, shaped by universal language and ancestral memory.
Rose B. Simpson
Co-stewarding Dream House — an artist residency at Kayanomori in Asuka.
Veronika Schaepers
Co-creating a book-based project on kimono-making as a vessel of cultural heritage and personal modern expression.
Collaborations with Institutions
Maki partners with museums, foundations, and cultural centers to create exhibitions, workshops, and immersive programs that restore, share, and inspire.
Recent Exhibitions & Projects
Skoll Foundation: The Art of Repair
Featured in the Skoll Foundation’s opening film at the 2025 Skoll World Forum in Oxford — a visual offering on cultural resilience and restoration. Watch on YouTube
Pixar: Book Becoming Mushroom
A cross-disciplinary program with Hiroko Fukumoto and Pixar Animation Studio, through her nonprofit amu arts, 2025
SVMA: Book Becoming Art | 芸術になった本
Curated at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, 2025
IFAM: Kamiko Clothing
Reviving the spirit of kimono through Kamiko — garments hand-sewn by licensed kimono makers at the International Folk Market, 2025
Maki’s institutional collaborations include:
— d.school at Stanford University
Teaching Japanese aesthetics through creative process, embodiment, and innovation
— The Mayo Clinic / Rochester Art Center
Collaborative programming on healing and art with Senninbari Project founded by Maki
— Asian Art Museum (San Francisco)
Programs exploring living traditions and Japanese cultural heritage
— The Fabric Workshop and Museum (Philadelphia)
Offering kimono-making workshops and designing original kimono patterns
— The Frist Art Museum (Nashville)
An in-depth curatorial initiative centered on Japanese textile traditions
— The Textile Center (Minneapolis)
Community-based textile arts and cultural storytelling through fiber
— Codex Foundation
Presenting cultural bridgework through book-making and the book as a form of art
— Workshop Residence (San Francisco)
Offering kimono-making workshops and designing original kimono patterns