Yoshie Allan is a Japanese-born, UK-based illustrator and mixed-media artist.

Since 2006, she has created original and commissioned work, including campaign visuals, five picture books published in Japan, pattern designs, and artwork for lifestyle products.

Her practice centres on visual storytelling, exploring the meeting point between nature and imagination. Alongside exhibiting her work, she collaborates on a range of projects and workshops, fostering communication and connection through art.

Creative Development

Growing up in Fukushima, Japan, Yoshie was deeply influenced by the surrounding natural landscape, a lifelong love of animals, and a creative family environment filled with calligraphy, painting, sewing and music.

Drawing became an early means of expression, helping her communicate thoughts and feelings beyond words. She initially studied Veterinary Science in Kanagawa, before her growing interest in design led her to leave university and study Fashion Design at Esmod Japon in Tokyo. After working in the apparel industry, she established herself as a freelance illustrator.

Her early mixed-media work combined reclaimed fabric with acrylic paint, developing a distinctive style that attracted publishers and led to opportunities to write and illustrate her own stories, including the publication of her first picture book.

Since relocating to the UK, her practice has increasingly returned to themes of nature, blending with an ongoing curiosity about how memory and imagination can be visualised and shared, and how they might be reimagined by others. Her artistic exploration of abstract-figurative and geometric forms continues.

Education & Career

• Esmod Japon Tokyo, Fashion Design (Graduated)

• Nihon University, Veterinary Science (Initial studies before shifting to fashion design)

• Mixed-media visual artist (2006–present)

• Freelance illustrator and published book author (2006–present)

• Co-founder and designer of the creative duo Sas and Yosh, UK (2014–present)
  
  Memberships
  Association of Illustrators (AOI, UK)
  Herts Visual Arts (HVA, UK)
  
  Solo Exhibitions

• 2006 – Yoshie Fondre, LAPNET SHIP, Harajuku, Tokyo

• 2023 – Hide & Seek, YEAST, Shibuya, Tokyo

• 2024 – Hide & Seek in Dreamscape, North Hertfordshire Museum, UK

Group Exhibitions & Art Fairs

• 2007–2009 – Publisher-presented Exhibitions across Japan

• 2010 – WWF campaign Kiss the Earth, ISETAN, Tokyo

• 2014–2018 – Exhibitions and trade shows in London, Paris, and Japan (as creative duo Sas and Yosh)

• 2022-2023 – ArigaTo The World, Sway Gallery, London, and Art House vol.1, UK

• 2025 – Letchworth Open Exhibition, Broadway Studio Gallery, UK; Big Art Fair, Herts Visual Arts, UK

Upcoming (2026–2027) All exhibition to be announced on What’s On page.

• July 2026 Joint Exhibition, Japan

• Oct 2026 Group Exhibition, London

• Oct 2027 Group Exhibition, Japan