Limited Edition Mugs Honoring our Grandmother
21 June 2026
To our wonderful community, near (Indianapolis) and far,
Becca and Katie Ito are back with a brand-new collaboration this summer! Join us on a learning journey that will take the two of us to Minidoka, Idaho next month, and cumulate in a limited run of mugs and a pick-up party you’re invited to on August 7th at Becca’s house.
For those who don’t know, we are grand-daughters of Frances (angl. Fusai) Namba Ito, who was incarcerated as a Japanese-American during World War II. This was a result of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Executive Order 9066.” How the Itos ended up in Indianapolis has a lot to do with her family’s unjust uprooting from Astoria, Oregon in early 1942.
Minidoka, Idaho is one of the ten internment camps that our federal government forced 120,000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans to live in from 1942 to the conclusion of WWII. The United States used Imperial Japan’s 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii as blanket justification to practice xenophobia and deny human rights to our grandmother and her communities.
Now, descendants of Minidoka incarcerees hold an annual pilgrimage to the site of their ancestors’ incarceration. Katie and I are going for the first time this year, and are inspired to make art to process our experience and invite you into what we are learning. Here are a few ways you can join us this summer!
Read a book to learn about this American history:
Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki
They Called Us Enemy graphic novel by George Takei
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
Follow the links to pre-order.
You’ll get to choose the mug shape (“LANTERN” or “KYLIX”) and an image to go on the front (crane or persimmon or ginko). The photos below show the pieces before they’ve been glazed with a classy white that will accentuate the black image well.
You’ll also gain access to an exclusive online travel journal we’ll keep of our time at Minidoka (July 8-13) and our artistic process after we return.
Finally, you’re invited to our pick-up party on Friday, August 7th, 4-7 pm. Rumor has it that Katie will be making themed food, because she can’t help herself. If you know, you know.
One logistical note: please fill your cart with each mug you want (if you’re wanting a set or multiple mugs). When you have everything you want in your cart, you’ll be able to check-out all at once. Feel free to email Becca with questions!
Example of a Lantern-style mug with a crane image.
Example of a Kylix-style mug with a persimmon image.
Example of a Kylix-style mug with a gingko image.