"Dad was a jeweller and a watch repairman- he got the jeweller certification second and didn't ever do jewellery making in a big way. His job and his hobby was watch repair. His workroom was next to my bedroom.

"This room was magic when I was little. So many tiny drawers full off... stuff. Things. Things I didn't understand and didn't know what to do with. But I would come in and pry rhinestones out of discarded costume jewellery, or get some of the fine, long drill bit thingys down and use them for doll swords and things. 

"I know, even though I haven't thought about it in years, what the largest part of him in me is. We both putter and fix and make. We both have desks full of all sorts of oddments which to us seem normal, but when you look through them, you realize they're a compendium of fascinating bits and pieces.

 

"I didn't know that most people's Dad's didn't have a room full of the best kind of tiny things to play with. I guess my kids will be equally used to the fabric, paint, wool, bits of metal, seed beads, wire pieces everywhere.

 

"I tinker with things because of Dad." 

​

-artist Kyra Matsui

​

​