Riku Matsuzaki (Kyoai)

Riku Matsuzaki runs a small indigo dyeing workshop in Oharano, a district of Kyoto's Nishikyo Ward, working under the name Kyoai — literally "Kyoto indigo." The workshop cultivates its own indigo and ferments it into sukumo on site, then builds its dye vats with wood-ash lye rather than any synthetic reducing agent, a fully plant-and-mineral process the workshop markets as gentle enough for children and people with sensitive skin to dye alongside an adult.

Matsuzaki offers seasonal hands-on dyeing workshops running from spring through fall, open to both adults and children, and sells finished dyed goods through an online store. The scale is small and single-artisan rather than a manufacturing operation — closer to a craft studio than a production house — which the workshop's own materials present as central to its appeal rather than a limitation.

Matsuzaki has described the work as "encapsulating life with the colors of life," a phrase presented on the workshop's own site as its stated philosophy, and the workshop frames each seasonal session as tied to that plant-and-mineral cycle rather than a fixed, repeatable formula. The workshop publishes its process and philosophy but little independent biographical detail about Matsuzaki, so the entry stays focused on the cultivation, fermentation and seasonal visitor experience that can be verified.