In Japan, crafts such as ceramics, lacquerware, textiles, wood and bamboo products, and metalwork are produced in many different locations across the country, and each region has its own unique style of craftsmanship. For example, within Japanese ceramics, Karatsu ware from Kyushu and Ohori-soma ware from the northeastern Tohoku region differ greatly in terms of their materials and color expressio...

Japanese crafts are beautiful. Sometsuke plates drawn with gosu pigment, bowls made up of many layers of lacquer, light-colored textiles dyed with the natural kusaki-zome technique, and one-of-a-kind yakishime style vases with unpredictable yohen effects that emerge during firing. These crafts are not only beautiful in form and design, but also function as tools, each embedded with the aesthetic s...

SHAPE & DECORATION Vol. 3, a joint exhibition by glass artists Hideaki Kakurai and Haruya Hiroshima, was held at Gallery Aizuya in Koishikawa, Tokyo, from June 25 to July 3, 2022. The theme of this exhibition was “Images of daily life created from objects.” When people are attracted to or pick up an object, they may be envisioning an image of their life with that object. Based on this hy...

The special exhibition “Ornate Meiji Period Art: Shining Kyoto Artists of the Imperial Court” will be held at the Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art from July 23 to September 19, 2022.The Imperial Court artist system was established by the Ministry of the Imperial Household in 1890 and continued until 1944 to honor and protect outstanding artists and craftsmen. It was established to save...

The 16th Paramita Ceramic Art Grand Prize Exhibition, in which works by the top six artists nominated by museums, galleries, and art critics nationwide as being “ceramic artists representing the times” will be exhibited, is to be held at the Paramita Museum in Mie Prefecture from June 9 to July 31, 2022. A Grand Prize of 1 million yen will be awarded to the artist who receives the most...

From March 26 to March 30, 2022, a solo exhibition by Hiroyumi Suzuki, a ceramic artist from Iga, Mie Prefecture, was held at the Gallery Hiirono in Eifuku, Tokyo. Gallery Hiirono is a long-established gallery that has been showcasing and selling ceramics made by contemporary artisans for more than 20 years. Since 2011, Hiroyumi has held a solo exhibition there every year. This year’s exhibi...

The 118th Arita Ceramic Fair (organized by the Arita Chamber of Commerce and Industry) will be held in Arita, Saga Prefecture, for the first time in three years. For the past two years, the event had been canceled at the local venue due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The resumption of this major event, which had welcomed many tourists in previous years, has been greeted with joy by people invo...

“Sustainability and development” are becoming major keywords for traditional crafts these days. It is noteworthy that, in addition to the high level of technical skills passed down from generation to generation, some artisans have begun to take on the challenge of developing a variety of new styles that will be carried on by the next generation, such as seeking styles that fit modern lifesty...

Discover, Acquire, Enjoy – The Appreciation of Sake Ware has been published on 1st April 2022. It is a special issue of the quarterly journal Honoho Geijutsu or The Art of Fire. The journal was first published in 1982 and mainly introduces contemporary Japanese ceramic art culture. This latest issue presents modern sake ware made by various ceramic artists along with a few interesting articl...

Since its opening in 1987, Toguri Museum of Art has been holding exhibitions with its own collections as one of the few museums specializing in ceramics in Japan. In celebration of the 35th anniversary of the opening of the museum, a special exhibition of Nabeshima ware that the founder Toru Toguri passionately collected will be held from 1st April. Nabeshima ware is a type of porcelain which is p...

Since its establishment, Sugahara Glassworks has been committed to handcrafted glass making and has been producing products that fit within the daily lives of users. Sugahara’s products are designed and developed by experienced craftsmen who have devoted themselves to sincerely dealing with the characteristics and unique charms of glass, and are constantly refining their skills at the compan...

From February 5th to 10th, 2022, glass artist Takeyoshi Mitsui’s exhibition “Forms that Blend Together” was held at gallery mus in Daikanyama, Tokyo. The exhibition featured a total of 139 works from his popular series such as “Silence” and “Bottle People” as well as his new tea bowls.