A Weekend Washed in Indigo
On August 22–23, 2026, we hosted “藍(ai) — Natural Intelligence” in Oceanside, San Diego.
Centered around Japan’s traditional indigo, ai, the exhibition brought together three elements: art, swim, and craft.
The artwork for the exhibition was created by French artist Pandora Decoster, originally from Biarritz. There are countless artists who draw inspiration from surfing and the beach, but Pandora’s work had always stood out to me. Her paintings have a softness and fluidity that felt completely different from anything else I had seen, and she had stayed somewhere in the back of my mind for years.
Several years later, I happened to visit her solo exhibition in California, where we finally met in person. That meeting eventually led to this collaboration.
For the exhibition, I brought back indigo pigment from Japan and invited Pandora to experiment with it freely. Oil painting is her usual medium, so working with watercolor was unfamiliar territory. She explored different ways of working with the pigment—at one point even placing it on ice and watching it melt and move.
Eventually, she settled on painting directly onto canvas. What stayed with me most was how much she seemed to enjoy the process of discovering something new.
Displayed alongside Pandora’s paintings were swimsuits from eit swim’s Japan collection—a collection created from ink made by simmering traditional Japanese indigo leaves and using the resulting color as the starting point for the designs.
The subtle variations and natural movement within the indigo tones echoed Pandora’s paintings beautifully, creating a space that brought to mind water, the ocean, and the ever-changing shades of blue found in nature.
In the craft area, we prepared Awa washi paper from Awagami Factory, along with fabric that had been dyed with indigo in advance.
Rather than teaching a set craft or asking everyone to make the same thing, we simply invited people to create their own small art pieces, using the materials however they wanted.
People could feel the texture of the indigo-dyed washi, see the beautiful variations between light and dark, and spend time creating freely. From children to adults, everyone seemed to find their own way of enjoying the creative process.
From soft, airy pale blues to bright, refreshing shades of blue, deep ocean-like indigo, and blue-black tones, the entire space was wrapped in a gradient of indigo throughout the two days.
There was another unexpected moment during the exhibition, too.
A woman who happened to wander into the space told us that she could “see auras.” She said she had noticed the color indigo coming from somewhere and felt drawn to follow it into the exhibition.
Indigo is a color with a quiet, calming presence.
We hope this exhibition gave people a chance to experience, even in a small way, the beauty of ai—a color born from nature and deeply rooted in Japanese culture.
To everyone who came, spent time with us, created alongside us, or simply shared a moment in the space:
Thank you.
