TAMBOUR PARIS BIOGRAPHY

Etsuko Harada

Born in Tokyo, into the third generation of a family of needle workers (beginning their craft in 1950), Etsuko began crocheting when she was two years old. By the time she was five, with an already-strong fundamental craft, she began to create sweaters and accessories.

She graduated from the Fine Arts University in Musashino, Japan, and from the ESMOD School in Paris. She worked as a stylist, illustrator, and an independent fashion consultant for several years.

However, drawn back to her original passion, she decided to dedicate herself instead to the art of needlework. By mixing creativity and a unique, handmade expertise, she strives to show the wide range of possibilities that this medium offers.

In 1999, her first collection named the Peace&Love Scarf achieved success. Each piece in the collection was created by retrieving and repurposing materials from far-off places, and each is made of 13-14 distinct fibers that give it a new vitality.

The Maison de Mailles that offers unique and limited edition pieces, named Tambour Paris is created in Japan.

Since 2009, she has participated in the Paris Fashion Week. She has helped several famous brands to flourish across the world, and has therefore decided to open her own workshop-boutique, Tambour Paris, in 2012 in the Main d'Or neighborhood in the Eleventh Arrondissement.

The concept and message of the house Tambour Paris is the metamorphosis through the passage of time... encounters, chance, peace and love.

In 2013, she took over the Needlework Charity Sale, which takes place every year in Tokyo, since 1974. It was first organized by her mother (a designer, needlework teacher, and developer of some of the more technical aspects of the craft) to pay tribute to their first Master, who was born disabled. A share of this sale’s earnings goes to the center for disabled children in her home neighborhood, and to the casualties of the 2011 natural disaster in Japan.