embroidered flowers bloom from botanical-dyed threads and digital algorithms

digital embroidery tool generates floral patterns in HANAITO

Japanese designer Hiromasa Fukaji utilizes a custom-built digital design tool to create the embroidery artwork HANAITO. The project merges the precision of digital code with the poetic, natural beauty of botanical dyes on fabric.

HANAITO, named after the Japanese words for ‘flower’ (hana) and ‘thread’ (ito), is an embroidery project that blends digital algorithmic design with the technological expertise of a Japanese embroidery manufacturer. The artwork focuses on the ‘satin stitch,’ a traditional technique where parallel, tightly packed threads create a distinct volume and a lustrous texture that shifts under changing light. Treating this quality as a form of ‘drawing exclusive to embroidery,’ Fukaji developed a customized digital tool to generate intricate floral patterns composed of overlapping lines and subtle, mathematical fluctuations. This digitally controlled, structural beauty is materialized through the high-precision technology of heritage embroidery manufacturer Tajima Industries, injecting a profound physical dimension into the graphic expression.

HANAITO embroidery work combines digital design and textile craft | all images courtesy of Hiromasa Fukaji (DIGRAPH)

Fukaji turns real flower petals into stitched floral imagery

From real petals back to embroidered flowers delving deeper than mere geometric patterns, HANAITO reinterprets the historical lineage of embroidery through its material. Since antiquity, flowers have served as a universal motif that humanity has sought to capture on fabric with needle and thread. Designer Hiromasa Fukaji honors this legacy by using threads dyed with actual flower petals. a single flower becomes a petal, is boiled into a dye, colors the thread, and eventually blooms once more as a floral image on the cloth. The entire journey and time of the material are beautifully folded into the final artwork.

the floral motifs emerge through overlapping linear stitching patterns

the threads used to embroider the artwork are dyed using fresh flowers

threads dyed by Japanese botanical dyeing artisans

beautifully colored using dye extracted from real flowers

the threads dyed from flower petals

design sketches by Fukaji, searching for the ideal floral expression through satin stitching

fine-tuning line width and subtle fluctuations using the custom-built embroidery design tool

achieving flawless reproduction of intricate designs through Tajima’s high-precision embroidery technology

precisely stitched through the seamless control of high-speed embroidery needles

project info:

name: HANAITO
designer: Hiromasa Fukaji (DIGRAPH) | @hiromasafukaji

manufacturer: Tajima Industries

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

This article is part of designboom’s Crafting the Future chapter, exploring what it means to be a maker in today’s world and the future of craftsmanship. Discover more related stories here.

edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom