Artist weaves designs that may leave you with hunger pangs

When it comes to textile art, we thought we’d seen it all, but Japanese artist ipnot’s miniature food embroidery designs show there’s no limit to innovation with a needle and thread.

Ipnot was drawn to embroidery having grown up in a creative family, and watching her grandmother as a child. While exploring the traditional craft herself, the artist discovered the ball-like French knot, calling it her “favorite type of stitch.”

According to her profile, “Ipnot” is a childhood nickname that the artist goes by. She has said that she originally got into embroidery because it was her grandmother’s hobby.

Ipnot likens her work to the art of pointillist painting, from a tiny bowl of ramen, complete with thread for noodles, to a bubbling cup of matcha tea, ipnot chooses from a range of 500 colors of embroidery thread to create miniature life-like depictions of food and drink.

Even while they’re still on the the embroidery hoop, the textured delights seem to jump from the flat fabric. Once removed, each three-dimensional piece is brought to life, as ipnot photographs her tiny culinary crafts in bowls, pastry cases, and next to an edible counterpart, showing off their striking resemblance.