Chat #13 - Stephanie Inagaki
"I have a deep respect for death"
Stephanie Inagaki is a multidisciplinary fine artist, jewelry and accessories designer. Her body of work draws inspiration from the fairytales and folklore of her Japanese heritage. Using anthropomorphic creatures such as foxes, crows, snakes, and black cats, she weaves personal narrative into a broader reflection on human experience. Through these ethereal protagonists, Inagaki explores the cyclical nature of life and death, the masks people wear for themselves and others, and the ways love and loss drive transformation.
See her work at https://www.stephanieinagaki.com/
[2025-11-05 20:13:43] Finbarre:
Stephanie Inagaki, it is an absolute pleasure to have you here on Tarot DMs.
On November the 5th, it is bonfire night, and it is also the night of the “beaver supermoon”, apparently. We are outside experiencing the sound of pops and bangs, because of course we have the Guy Fawkes celebrations here in the UK… and I understand that there are causes to be celebratory in the US today?
1-05 20:14:57] Stephanie Inagaki:
Yeah, yay for the supermoon! It’s a great time to do an interview with you. Yeah, it’s really uplifting and encouraging to see all the Democratic voting polls have been happening. It’s definitely needed for sure. This year’s felt really, really long and it’s not even over yet.
[2025-11-05 20:16:39] Finbarre:
Each month on Tarot DMs, we have a different card attributed to the month. So last month for Spooky Season, we had The Devil. And as fortune has it, this month is The Moon. So before we get into the questions I’m going to ask you, The Moon card is one that I’ll be giving to every person that I have an interview with this week. So they’ll all get a similar type of question.
The second card is one that’s pulled out at random. That’s the wild card and the third card is a gift card. Now, this is one that’s been passed on from a previous guest.
Something unusual is happening with that…. I’ll tell you very shortly. When it comes to art and when it comes to illustration, graphic design, what experience have you got with The Tarot?
[2025-11-05 20:19:03] Stephanie Inagaki:
Honestly, I don’t have a lot of experience working with tarot. I’ve dabbled in it. I’ve definitely had fans and clients ask if I would make a tarot deck myself. And as you know, there are so many different cards. And it’s really a language, its own language on its own that I unfortunately have not had the time to delve into it.
I’ve bought books and all the things, but I did make a drawing for the Empress card a few years back. And that’s probably my closest connection to including the tarot in my oeuvre of drawings.
[2025-11-05 20:19:31] Stephanie Inagaki:
That being said, I do really love the imagery and symbolism of what tarot is.
[2025-11-05 20:20:17] Finbarre: Hurrah for dabbling! Do you have an image of that Empress card to hand?
[2025-11-05 20:20:39] Stephanie Inagaki: Yes! Let me find it
[2025-11-05 20:22:26] Stephanie Inagaki:
[2025-11-05 20:24:14] Finbarre:
Thank you Stephanie, can you talk me through what materials were used in that exquisite piece?
[2025-11-05 20:24:50] Stephanie Inagaki:
I mainly work in charcoal, so most of the drawing is in charcoal and the border is in gold foil. I also collage with washi paper, so that’s what the obi, which is the colored belt around the fox is.
[2025-11-05 20:25:51] Finbarre: You, 100% should think about creating that deck. Seriously. I LOVE THIS.
[2025-11-05 20:26:33] Stephanie Inagaki: omg thankkkk youuu!!! I honestly just feel so inept since I don’t totally understand all the symbolism and language I haven’t delved back into it >__<
[2025-11-05 20:26:21] Finbarre:
I have a terrible tendency to get sidetracked, so here is your card and here is your question…
[2025-11-05 20:26:48] Finbarre:
And that enigmatic card is, of course, from the Hexen 5.0 Tarot by Suzanne Treister. Okay, so The Moon. Are there any hidden fears in your work that you explore?
[2025-11-05 20:30:05] Stephanie Inagaki:
I don’t think I’d necessarily say that they’re hidden. I don’t really have that many fears. I’m also a fairly open book, but something that I think culturally and also through my visual practice. I’m always addressing life and death. And for me, it’s something very cyclical. One feeds the other. But on the other hand, I’ve also had a lot of poignant deaths in my life. And so I think for me, my own internal fear, I don’t know if it necessarily translates into my individual art, would be death of loved ones and people that are close to me.
[2025-11-05 20:31:09] Stephanie Inagaki:
I have a deep respect for death and it’s not necessarily a negative thing like how Western culture has perceived it to be.
Like I mentioned, I believe it’s cyclical in nature with life, that one feeds the other. So it’s something that I have more respect for than fear.
[2025-11-05 20:33:22] Finbarre:
You mentioned that appreciation, respect, reverence of a life that’s past and of death.
I’m looking at your website at the mourning jewellery that you have, where you have, say, a familiar’s cat skull, a memorial pendant, or you have a little teeny tiny tombstone for your cat?
Sorry, I’m laughing. It’s the cutest thing I think I’ve seen all week! What inspired you to bring beauty and decay together?
[2025-11-05 20:35:19] Stephanie Inagaki:
Well, I’ve been goth since I was wee, since I was preteen, and I just kind of just stuck with it. I think it really helped that my parents gave my late brother and me the opportunity to have pets, but that we had to take care of them.
So we had rabbits and dogs and, of course, fish from the local fairs, and they don’t live that long.
It was our responsibility to also, with the aid of our parents, bury them in our backyards. And that just carried on with me becoming a little goth and into an adult goth.
[2025-11-05 20:35:51] Stephanie Inagaki:
I also grew up with my Japanese background that we always have altars for our ancestors. Every time during dinner, we would light incense and place food for our dearly departed and bow and pay our respects to them.
[2025-11-05 20:36:25] Stephanie Inagaki:
So I think with those things coupled, death wasn’t seen as something that was so sanitized and separate from the living.
[2025-11-05 20:39:38] Finbarre:
I must confess that I too went through a goth phase. In fact, just recently, I found one of those… you know, those jointed rings that used to get in the 1990s. And of course, I still have, you know, my long leather coats from the Matrix days. The box under my bed containing all of my silver jewellery is something that my kids have been pillaging from. They love that stuff. Right. We need your second card. Time is running away with us. This is going to be your Wild card.
This is going to be one that I pull from the deck. We’ll take a question from that. So it’s not going to be The Moon. Of course, that’s already been used, but everything else is up for grabs. So I’m going to be shuffling the cards here. I’d like you to say “stop” or right “stop” and we’ll see what we get.
[2025-11-05 20:41:06] Stephanie Inagaki:
That’s great that your kids are pillaging through your things. I definitely still have a bunch of my old goth jewelry I will probably never ever wear since I make my own now. That’s way better! But anyway, yes, stop.
[2025-11-05 20:41:39] Finbarre: Also, the shame. The shame
[2025-11-05 20:42:23] Stephanie Inagaki: Hahaha I loveddddd those!! I still have friends that spend three plus hours getting ready. I don’t have time for that!! lol
[2025-11-05 20:42:31] Finbarre: Ta da!
[2025-11-05 20:43:28] Finbarre:
So we’ve got the good fortune here of having the Ace of Pentacles, a card of prosperity, that first spark of material opportunity. It’s not a card that guarantees wealth, but it gives opportunity, the chance to create it. It’s a card of manifestation, that something real is beginning.
[2025-11-05 20:44:25] Finbarre:
Tell me about a recent opportunity that’s made the world brighter.
[2025-11-05 20:46:06] Stephanie Inagaki:
I’ve been vending with this convention called Oddities and Curiosities Expo, and I made the leap to double the amount of cities that I’ll be traveling to and vending at, and I got most of the ones I’m doing.
So I’ll be currently doing 13 different cities across the United States, and that’s really exciting. I picked a bunch of places I’ve never been to, some of my friends out, some of them I don’t, so that’s exciting and new, and hopefully the world is okay still.
[2025-11-05 20:47:40] Finbarre:
What kind of oddities and curiosities are we talking about?
[2025-11-05 20:49:09] Stephanie Inagaki:
Oh man, it’s all kinds. There’s always this giant taxidermy vendor and they usually have a humongous giraffe head, which includes the neck. But then there’s people who will taxidermy like raccoons with beer cans and chips. You have people who have fine art, jewelry, antiques, all kinds of oddities, like everything that you can think of.
[2025-11-05 20:50:56] Finbarre:
[2025-11-05 20:51:21] Stephanie Inagaki: It’s saying weeeeeee!
[2025-11-05 20:52:00] Finbarre:
This little sparkly guy is the only piece of taxidermy that I own. I recently went to a place called the Dark Arts Market in Nottingham, which sounds very much in the same vein.
There was this stall that had all these bits of bones and feathers in jars and all manner of interesting whatnot. And there was this bug, the most beautiful bug I think I’ve ever seen.
Look at it. It is magnificent in this little bell jar. And it was obscenely expensive but I had to have it. So I have wasted so much money on such a beautiful thing. No regrets.
[2025-11-05 20:53:08] Stephanie Inagaki:
Definitely no regrets. The expression that whoever taxed or made it into is priceless. And yes, indeed, it is. The colors on it are astounding for sure.
[2025-11-05 20:53:14] Finbarre:
Time for the third and last card. This is the Gift card, which would normally come from a person to be given to you to inspire our conversation. Now, unfortunately, I messed up, did a couple of interviews too close to each other, and I have two gift cards for you. So you need to pick them. Will you be choosing the card from Treasa McCabe? Will you pick the card from Amy Kaufman? You choose.
[2025-11-05 20:53:25] Finbarre: No hints though
[2025-11-05 20:54:21] Stephanie Inagaki:
I will go with the latter.
[2025-11-05 20:56:18] Finbarre:
I think you chose wisely.
You have Treasa McCabe of Spooky Doorway, who created The Seance of Blake Manor. She had the Eight of Wands reversed, which would have been quite a difficult card.
But Amy S. Kaufman, who was the writer of The Traitor of Sherwood Forest, has given you this card.
[2025-11-05 20:56:34] Finbarre: THE LOVERS! Wooo!
[2025-11-05 20:57:29] Finbarre:
How do you decide which projects to commit to?
[2025-11-05 20:58:59] Stephanie Inagaki:
Hmm, good question. I definitely follow my gut intuition and if it aesthetically flows with the rest of the body of my work. Like, for example, especially when I’m vending, I do have clients come up and ask if I’d be willing to do a commission or whatnot.
I usually don’t take those unless they visually align with the work I make. If not, in actuality, it’s going to be really expensive for them because it would be a one-off for me. If it’s something I can integrate within my own work, I’ll take it on. If not, I have a tonne of other jeweler friends that I’m happy to suggest.
[2025-11-05 21:00:27] Finbarre: Would it be possible to have a sneaky peek at anything you’re currently working on/have recently finished?
[2025-11-05 21:01:24] Stephanie Inagaki: Yes!! I’m super proud of these new sculpts I finished of my new jewelry collection called Night’s Planchette
[2025-11-05 21:01:40] Stephanie Inagaki:
[2025-11-05 21:02:41] Stephanie Inagaki: This one’s getting released this Thursday through Every Day Originals so I just finished it yesterday, it’s called The Night Fall!
[2025-11-05 21:04:05] Finbarre:
And of course, the moon makes an appearance there.
When I was looking at those pieces of jewellery, I was picturing Laszlo Cravensworth from What We Do in the Shadows leaping into the air, shouting “bat!”
But I won’t do his voice. There’s no way I can do a Matt Berry impersonation.
You have seen What We Do in the Shadows, right?
[2025-11-05 21:04:43] Finbarre: Please say you have otherwise the Council of Goths will rescind your license
[2025-11-05 21:05:04] Stephanie Inagaki:
Oh my god, yes. It’s one of my favorite shows. And before I canceled my Hulu account, it definitely was on my rotation roster of what I played in the background. So I don’t even know how many times I’ve rewatched What We Do in the Shadows and also a giant IT Crowd fan as well.
[2025-11-05 21:06:48] Stephanie Inagaki:
[2025-11-05 21:07:05] Finbarre:
I’m going to grant you the magical power of deciding the next card for the next guest.
This could be pulled from a deck. It could just be thought up straight off the top of your head. It could be the way it should be, or it could be reversed. Your choice. Use that power wisely. And what do you pick?
[2025-11-05 21:08:23] Stephanie Inagaki:
[2025-11-05 21:10:07] Finbarre:
I can’t keep a straight face when you show me GIFs like that.
[2025-11-05 21:10:49] Stephanie Inagaki:
Okay, I’m going to pick a card that I had the honor to be on. One of my best friends, Alan Amato, came out with a tarot deck called Heretical Fates, and he represented me as the Two of Swords.
[2025-11-05 21:11:19] Finbarre: Ouch (Great card, but ouch)
[2025-11-05 21:11:54] Finbarre:
Stephanie, you’re an absolute meanie. So you’ve gone for a card that represents tension, blocked emotion, introspection, the idea of stillness, a moment between decisions, of inner conflict. It’s going to be an interesting answer, but I’ll make sure that the person knows it’s from you.
[2025-11-05 21:11:56] Stephanie Inagaki:
I think it’s the Aries in me. I’m pretty all or nothing about things and straightforward. Being able to be honest and brutally honest is definitely one of my traits.
[2025-11-05 21:12:03] Finbarre:
Stephanie Inagaki, thank you so much for entertaining my nonsense on Tarot DMs and for sharing your thoughts on the cards!
[2025-11-05 21:12:32] Stephanie Inagaki:
Thank you so much for having me. This was a lot of fun. I wasn’t quite sure what I was getting into, but I hope you enjoyed my answers as well.