profile of tagawa


	Mariko Tagawa



	address:	12-601, Hozumidai, Ibaraki-city, Osaka. 567-0044
	date of birth:	1958, Osaka
	education & training	1977-1980 Osaka University of Art & Design, Broadcasting 1981-1985 Shizuko Saka Academy of Knitting 1988-1989 Knitwear Design, Nihon Vogue Co. Ltd
	exhibitions:	1994, 'Potofu' group exhibition 1996, 'Potofu' group exhibition 1998, 'Potofu' group exhibition 2001, 'Potofu' group exhibition
	awards:	1985 Runner up, 'Mother and Child' knitting competition 1986 First prize, 'Diamond Wool' knitting competition 1986 Second prize, 'Kinkado' handicraft competition 1987 Runner up, 'Mother and Child' knitting competition 1988 First prize, Shiver Knitting Association knitting competition 1989 Winner (Hand knitting) 'International Competition for Fashion Creators- Best New Comers' by Brother Co. Ltd 1989 Winner, 'Japan Creative Knitting as Handicrafts' knitting competition
	'Fushiginoiroito' workshops & exhibition	1990, 1994-1999, 2001
	work experience:	1986-1990 Knitting tutor, Shizuko Saka Knitting Academy 1987-1990 Creative Knitwear production group 'S-knit I'm', Shizuko Saka Handicraft Knitting Research Institute 1991-1998 Self-employed knitwear production, market by Roransan Co. Ltd 1995-1996 Knitwear Designer, Marutaka Textile Co. Ltd
	voluntary work:	1995- Transliteration of texts for the partially sighted.
	profile	Besides developing her knitting career, Mariko Tagawa helps out in her family property agency and works with the partially sighted. Benefiting from her formal training as a professional broadcaster, she has spent the past six years recording audiotapes for the partially sighted. The tapes cover a wide range of subjects, including social benefits, new legislation and 'talking books'. Her hobbies are reading, photography, ceramic appreciation, walking and travelling. After attending knitting school, she achieved many of the ambitions many ordinary knitters might only dream about: becoming a tutor at a knitting school, a knitwear designer, setting up her own commercial business for the production of her knitwear, and achieving an outstanding record of winning knitting competitions. In spite of all this, she still felt she wasn't really expressing herself properly and that she needed to change her direction. Her creative process is made up of a strange mixture of thoughtful self-questioning and acting on her instinct. Her earlier work showed signs of her difficulty in reconciling these two forces, but it soon settled down, becoming steadily more focused. Her work has gained in authority and seems to speak with her own voice.