Toyoko Sugiwaka

Author Toyoko Sugiwaka was born in Osaka, Japan, and studied graphic design at the Osaka College of Design. She comes from a family of craftspeople ― as a small girl Toyoko, with her sister, spent many hours learning craft techniques from her aunt, a skilled expert in crochet.
In 1993 she moved to Australia as the art director for a printing company in Sydney, before going freelance as a graphic designer.
Toyoko received training in felting techniques from internationally renowned South Australian artist, felter and dyer India Flint, with whom she co-wrote Handmade Style: Felt for Murdoch Books.
Toyoko says, ‘I was impressed by India’s large-hearted human nature, and now, since I have been given this experience myself, I want to share it with other people in my book.’