LILY｜理々 is an ikebana artist based in Sydney, trained in the Ohara School tradition.
Her practice spans ikebana works, spatial installations, cultural experiences and considered collaborations.
Her work begins with close observation—of the material, the space and the reason people have gathered there. Through flower, vessel and empty space, she creates compositions shaped by their particular setting and moment.
Biography
Origins and perspective
Some of LILY’s earliest memories are of the flowers her grandmother tended in the family garden. The changing garden—and the care with which it was kept—remained with her as an inner landscape.
Growing up in Fukushima and experiencing the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake sharpened her awareness of how quickly familiar places can change. After later losing her grandmother, she encountered ikebana. The practice offered a way to work with memory without trying to reproduce the past: to attend closely to what is present, and to give it form within a vessel.
Before centring her practice on ikebana, LILY worked across refugee support, management consulting, and art and design initiatives involving displaced communities. Moving between social, organisational and creative contexts developed a way of working that is both sensitive to cultural meaning and attentive to the practical realities of a project.
These experiences continue to inform how she approaches each project: by understanding its context, working carefully with the people involved, and allowing the materials and space to lead.
Based in Sydney.
Working internationally.
In May 2026, LILY relocated her practice to Sydney—bringing her training in ikebana into a new cultural and spatial context.
Based in Sydney, she develops ikebana works, Hanakai, cultural experiences and considered collaborations—working across Australia and internationally as each project requires.
Her approach remains simple: say less, show precisely.