During her residency in Kyoto, we spoke with the Japanese artist about how ‘kawaii’ culture went global, finding inspiration on eBay, the Trojan Horse as a symbol of antivirus software and her dream of creating playground equipment
Before Japanese artist Ancco was making “evil family” sculptures for Heaven by Marc Jacobs, she worked predominantly as a digital artist. Before that, she was a girl who loved being on the computer, growing up in the countryside of Ibaraki. “My hometown has a really limited population and my father is a farmer,” she says. “That’s why I got so into computers.” Both Ancco’s drawings and ceramics reflect this deeply nostalgic approach to being online. Her rounded creatures in pastel colours evoke feelings of childhood – like being reunited with a beloved old stuffed animal – but have a mythical edge, channelling devil horns, two faces and Trojan Horse imagery.
Ancco had no intention of becoming one of fashion’s favourite artists to collaborate with – she attributes it to the fact that “kawaii” culture has been embraced across the world. “I personally feel a bit conflicted about wearing my own designs or famous illustrations on myself,” she says. “It feels a bit contradictory.” Instead, she sticks to wearing “simple clothing, without any designs” and spends her days deep in the world of ceramics. Her solo exhibition, Turnover, at WHAAM Gallery in New York earlier this year, exhibited a pink ribbon doll house, more double-headed figures, a puzzle-shaped frame and a moth ballerina. She’s also just finished an artist-in-residence at the Ace Hotel in Kyoto, where she created a large horse-shaped castle doll house.
Ancco’s latest exhibition, Dungeon, is on display in the lobby of the Ace Hotel in Kyoto until August 31. Ahead of the opening, we spoke with her about discovering ceramics, finding inspiration on eBay and her dream of creating playground equipment.
Have you always been an artist? I saw a photo on Instagram of you creating pixel art when you were 13!
Ancco: I grew up in the countryside of Ibaraki and have always been an artist. I started drawing in kindergarten, and when I was in junior high school, we got a Windows 95 computer. I used to post drawings on online message boards where people would chat, kind of like early social media. It was a way to communicate through art, and looking back, that might’ve been the time I was most passionate about it.
When did you first start working with ceramics? What drew you to it?
Ancco: I started working with ceramics in 2020, during the pandemic. I felt like I needed to try something new, and I also needed to fill larger spaces. I wanted to turn my digital work into 3D and challenge myself to increase my output. That led me to experiment with a new material, clay, which I’d only really used when I was a kid.
What are the similarities and differences between creating illustrative and ceramic works?
Ancco: Since I’ve been doing digital art for a long time, I already have my own rules for making art. I started to feel a lack of freedom. With ceramics, I don’t feel the same kind of obsessive pressure – I think because it’s still something new to me. Of course, there are technical challenges like cracks or glazes not working out. Ceramics come with a kind of physical constraint – a limitation that’s part of the material. Illustration, on the other hand, has more conceptual limitations. In a way, it’s so free that it becomes limiting in its own way.
Tell us about the shapes in your work. How are your characters born?
Ancco: Recently, I’ve been getting inspired by old toys I find on eBay, vintage buildings I see around town, decals and characters from old anime and manga. When I’m walking around Kyoto, there are a lot of traditional buildings that I get inspiration from. I tend to be more drawn to things from the past rather than the present. I feel like things from the past were made with more time, care, and money.
What kind of work are you doing in Kyoto?
Ancco: I'm currently creating ceramic works in Kyotango. I’ve also started drawing again after taking a break, trying to get my sense for it back.
I know you also take custom orders. What’s the craziest one you’ve received?
Ancco: One of the wildest ones was from an overseas porn star – it was a very specific and detailed request. She asked me to draw her, but I thought it was spam mail. I was young, so I didn’t take the offer, but I’ve constantly thought since that maybe I should have.
Your work often includes religious motifs and symbols from ancient Greece, like angels, demons and Trojan Horses. Can you tell me more about that?
Ancco: I use angels and demons as simple symbols of good and evil. The idea of a Trojan Horse left a deep impression on me because the antivirus software on the old Windows computer I used to use had a Trojan Horse illustration – it felt almost traumatic. Rather than trying to send a strong message in a religious or philosophical sense, I include these elements more instinctively, as symbolic imagery that stuck with me. I think that comes from growing up in Japan’s relatively non-religious culture. Japanese people without a religion will still go to temples and shrines to participate in religious activities. That’s the part I’m really interested in.
Is there something you haven’t made yet that you’d like to try?
Ancco: I’d love to make playground equipment using FRP or fibreglass one day. But with ceramics, too, there are materials and chemicals that can be harmful to the human body, so I do feel cautious about the risks involved. But my dream is to make something 3D that’s even bigger, and put more focus back on my digital art in the future, as well.
Dungeon is on display in the Ace Hotel, Kyoto, until 31 August 2025