Mayphy was born in Kobe and raised in Tokyo. In her twenties, she gained experience with costumes and kimonos while working in stage production, choreography and Japanese dance. In 2006, Mayphy ventured alone to London to live and study music.
In 2010, she married a French painter and began living in France. In 2012, she returned to Japan with her husband, and the two opened Kyo to E to Oto, a music and art atelier in Nishijin, Kyoto’s historic kimono-weaving district.
In March 2019, with her family’s kimono collection and her own selections, Mayphy started Kimono Salon May in Kyoto. There, she began sharing the art of kimono appreciation, guiding her guests, mainly non-Japanese visitors, in English, teaching them how to choose and wear seasonably-appropriate silk kimonos. Leading her guests on picturesque strolls at local temples and shrines, Mayphy would help them find opportunities to snap photos of themselves wearing traditional Japanese attire. When not at Kimono Salon May, Mayphy worked as a music instructor and jazz singer.
In 2022, she moved to Kanazawa, continuing Kimono Salon May while exploring her music career. In culture-rich Kanazawa, Mayphy is learning about “Kaga historical spots” such as Kanazawa castle, Kenrokuen and the Nagamachi-Bukeyashiki district. She continues to study Japanese cultural practices such as tea ceremony, pottery and of course kimono, especially the Kaga-Yuzen dyeing technique.
Yann was born in Saint Ouen near Paris and raised in the countryside of the Champagne area near Reims in France. He began developing his artistic skills from a young age, exploring drawing, painting and sculpture. At the age of 25, he became the youngest winner of the Renoir Foundation award.
In 2012, he moved to Japan with his wife, Mayphy Miho Higashi, where they opened their art atelier, Kyo to E to Oto. From 2013 to 2014, the two worked together on the “Kyoto Portraits 100” project, which contains one hundred life-size portraits of Kyoto citizens. The project was exhibited in 2014 at the Museum of Kyoto “Bunpaku” and in the contemporary art festival of Kizugawa. To accompany the exhibitions, Yann and Mayphy published a special limited-edition art book.
Yann has presented his art in international art exhibitions in Paris, New York and Kyoto. He strives to continuously question his own practice, to discover new ways of engaging in the dialectic between the myths of art history and contemporary society.
At Kimono Salon May, Yann will guide you to local sights, presenting them to you through his unique viewpoint while engaging you in French, English and Japanese conversation. He can also deploy his artistic skills to immortalize your “kimono-promenade” in unforgettable photos!
In 2022, he moved to Kanazawa, and quickly received an opportunity to create designs for the Kaga Yuzen style of kimono dyeing. His Kaga Yuzen collection is produced by Kanehisa corporation.
His designs relating to the culture of France have begun exhibiting in 2023.