OKIMOTO was founded in 2017 by Michelle Ishikawa, and named in honor of her paternal grandmother, Yasuko Okimoto-Ishikawa, who survived nuclear war, crossed an ocean, and began again in a new world where much of her culture and language fell silent. OKIMOTO bears her name as both tribute and living thread. A quiet deliberate reclamation of what she carried and what was lost.

The work is ancestral in origin. Long before it had a name or a studio or a founding year, humans have lived alongside plants and flowers, depending on them for everything: food, medicine, meaning, beauty - the stuff of life itself. Somewhere along the way, in the pace of the modern world, that relationship narrowed and OKIMOTO exists to tend it back open.

We seek to make work that is not only decoration, but conversation. The relationship between human life and the natural world has always been one of reciprocity. We try to honor that in everything: how we source, how we work, and who we work with. This means prioritizing domestic and locally grown flowers whenever possible, treating every material as the living thing it is, and building relationships with vendors, growers, collaborators, and clients grounded in the same care we bring to the work itself.

Michelle's background spans interior design, project management, and fine art, with a foundation in sculpture and installation. After years designing and executing large-scale interior renovations, she retreated to a yurt in the Catskills, where stillness and the forest floor reshaped her creative path. What emerged was not a floral business, but a new way of living. A ritual practice and a lifetime pursuit of understanding our place in the natural order.