KOGEI & Me

Kenji Matsuura, a native of Chiba Prefecture, is a glass artisan responsible for product development at Sugahara Glassworks. He became fascinated with glass when he started attending glassmaking classes as an engineering student, and joined Sugahara Glassworks, a local glass manufacturer, after graduating from university.For Kenji, glass is, in his words, a “fascinating material that I never...

Brothers Motomasa and Susumu Yotsukawa are the president and senior managing director, respectively, of Yotsukawa Seishakusho, a company engaged in product design and sales of Takaoka copperware. Motomasa joined the company shortly after graduating from university. Susumu rediscovered the appeal of his family business and its craftsmanship after working in the United States for another company, an...

Shuji Hataishi represents the fifth generation of the Imari Nabeshima ware company, Hataman Touen, and an active artist. As the eldest of three siblings, he was born and raised in Imari Okawachiyama in Saga Prefecture. He studied at the University of Art and Design in Tokyo (Tokyo Zokei University), majoring in sculpture. He loved to work with a pitch black stone called kuro-mikage (black granite)...

Mix the paint and apply it on the woodblock. Place the Japanese washi (paper) carefully on the block and use the baren (a flat pad) to rub the washi. After these processes and with bated breath, Mr. Noriyasu Soda quickly pulls the washi off from the wood block, on which a beautiful color with deep perspectives appears. “Although it is just transferring colors onto paper, depending on the artisan’s...

Mr. Koji Orii is the founder of “Momentum Factory Orii, Co.,Ltd.”, which deals with a wide range of coloring of Takaoka copperware. Born and raised in Takoka City in Toyama Prefecture, he is the third generation of a long-established “Orii-chakushokujyo (coloring factory). After graduating from university, he worked hard and had a fulfilling career in an IT company in Tokyo. Howe...

Mr. Seiji Ito, a teapot artisan in Tokoname, entered the world of pottery at the age of 20 and initially was engaged mainly in making teacups. When the growth momentum of the high economic growth period began to slow down, he steered towards the production and sales of teapots which has a higher added value and more difficult to create compared with teacups. “A teapot in the world of tea is like t...

Eifu Kawamata is the 4th generation of “Okeei” who inherited the manufacturing of the Edo wooden tub since the Meiji era. He did not aspire to become an artisan when he was a child, but he started to have an interest in art and the Japanese culture during his university days. After graduating from university, he worked in the usual corporation, but in 1985 he started to walk the path of an artisan...

Ms. Eiko Tanaka, a woodworking artisan was born in the city of Anjo, Aichi Prefecture. During her childhood days, she was attracted by handicraft and was good with her hands such as doing crafts and sewing. Influenced by her parents who liked art appreciation, she found herself absorbed in the coloration of Japanese traditional lacquer which are “red, black and gold” and wanted to lear...

Yasuko Kamochi and Yumiko Tanaka are in charge of “etsuke” (decorative painting) at Fukujugama in Arita, Saga Prefecture. Even in Arita, which is the famed historical area of porcelain, there are few artisans specializing in etsuke at the present time. Yasuko joined Fukujugama because her sister worked there too. At that time, Arita ware was in high demand. Etsuke is a finely divided work where ea...

Takeyoshi Mitsui is from Hiroshima Prefecture. He likes drawing and craft class and physical education since he was a child. From his interest in manufacturing, he majored in crafts in university where he developed an interest in glass making which he felt was the most complicated and difficult to produce. Subsequently, he found a job in a glass studio in Toyama Prefecture. He was able to create h...

Mr. Masanori Soejima is a glass craftsman who carries the next generation of Soejima glassware who excels at free-blown glass without using any mold. And this type of glass called “Hizen Vidro” is unique to the area of Saga. After studying glass making at the university and joining his family business, Mr. Soejima have learned techniques watching his father and seniors. The forming process of free...

Mr. Kosuke Fujimoto was born as the eldest son in the family of Fujimaki Seitou Co., Ltd., a manufacturer of Arita ware. After graduating from university, he began his apprenticeship in pottery manufacturing in Kyoto. Subsequently, he returned to Arita and started his career as a ceramic artist. During the 4 years of his activity as an artist, he held solo exhibitions in Tokyo and that experience ...