Illustrating endearing paper goods and hosting cozy retreats fostering creativity-building, storytelling, and meaningful connection

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Kimberly Kuniko (she/her) is a mixed-race Nikkei American illustrator and mixed media collage artist based in what is now known as Los Angeles, California (unceded Tongva land). Her Japanese roots inform her art through her fondness for paper and a balanced detail achieved through intentional restraint. She creates places where words and imagery intersect, seeking out the connections between disparate things and layering stories together. Working out of her home studio, she works in a mix of mediums including illustration and analog collage, which incorporate hand-stitching and found words poetry, and hosting her Creativity Keepers Club with guided retreats for creatives of all mediums, and facilitating the Dream & Scheme Community for Small Business Owners.

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She enjoys designing for her stationery brand Lacelit, a paper goods company that’s all about fostering meaningful human connection and self-expression for the sentimental souls among us. Endearing illustration and clever wordplay are infused into all of Lacelit's designs and can be enjoyed on a lovely array of greeting cards and stationery, recipe cards, stickers, art prints, button pins, and calendars.

 

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As a mixed-race, half-Japanese and half-white American born in Los Angeles, I grew up with two diverse socializations. From my earliest memories, I was introduced to multiple ways of thinking and expression simply by observing the behaviors, perspectives, communication styles, thought processes, and traditions represented in each side of my family. I've long loved and resonated with different aspects of each culture, and learned early on that there are always several ways to see the same thing. It's through the decisions I make and actions I take that I truly choose who and how I want to be. My Nikkei roots influence and inform my art in many ways through a love and appreciation of paper, whimsical imagery and thoughtful subject matter, intentionally balanced detail and color, and the poetic sentiments and affirming turns of phrase that give life to my work. It's in the interweaving of both cultures that I illustrate, design, paint, make, and write.