Kaori Kato is a Japanese artist whose practice explores the expressive potential of hand-folded paper in the creation of site-specific installations and sculptural works.
She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (2008), a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours, 2009), and a Master of Visual Art (2010) from the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) at the University of Melbourne, Australia.
Since returning to Hokkaido in 2013, Kato has exhibited widely across Japan and internationally, including in Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, and China. Her wearable paper sculptures were featured in the Vancouver Fashion Week SS 2019 and Western Canada Fashion Week SS 2020 collections, presenting more than twenty distinct designs across the two events.
Kato was a major winner at the Paper on Skin International Wearable Paper Art Competition in Tasmania, Australia, in 2022, and received the Pam and Neil Thorne Award (Award in Honour of Pam and Neil Thorne) at the 2024 edition of the competition.
In 2023, she presented a solo exhibition at Messums West where she created site-specific works within the 13th-century barn. The same year, she was appointed Support Ambassador for Makubetsu Town in the Tokachi region of Hokkaido.
In 2024, she was commissioned by the historic Swiss watchmaker Vacheron Constantin to exhibit over twelve paper sculptures, including three large-scale installations, across its boutiques in Japan.
In 2025, Kato received the Hokkaido Culture Encouragement Award from the Hokkaido Government and the Obihiro City Cultural Encouragement Award from the City of Obihiro.
