Tetsuji Yamashita

Tetsuji was born in Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture in 1968. After graduating from Nagoya University of Arts, Department of Design, he worked as a graphic designer. While he was attending university, he took a year off and traveled to Kenya as the 30th generation student of Kenya Swahili Language School of Japan-Africa Cultural Exchange Association. After graduation, he traveled to five countries including Zimbabwe. After returning to Japan, he started making paper-mosaic images based on his travel experience and pursued to become an artist after he won the 2007 Cannes International Exhibition. An unparalleled unique method has been described as a "paper quilt" in the Netherlands and has been exhibited both domestically and internationally through solo and group exhibitions.