Category: artisans

Suzusan

Categories artisans / Textile

　 Airy leaves, bold plaid patterns and delicate lace-like waves – the unique and elegant tie-dye patterns of Arimatsu-Narumi Shibori are crafted by skilled artisans in Arimatsu (Nagoya). MURASE Hiroyuki (村瀬 弘行), a fifth-generation successor of the craft, founded ‘Suzusan’ to deliver inspired shibori fabrics to...

READ MORE Suzusan

MICHIKAWA Shozo (ceramist)

Categories artisans / Ceramics

　 MICHIKAWA Shozo (道川 省三) was a latecomer to the world of ceramics and did not come from a traditional background. However, this allowed him to be free of existing rules and boundaries that often hold back ideas from outside-the-box artists in Japan. Having developed...

READ MORE MICHIKAWA Shozo (ceramist)

MORITA Rieko (Japanese-style painter)

Categories artisans / Visual Art

秋華 (four-panel folding screen, 2000) 　 MORITA Rieko (森田りえ子) has won numerous awards and held countless solo exhibitions in Japan and overseas. While many of her works are kept in several of Kyoto’s famous temples and shrines, such as Kinkaku-ji (Golden Temple), Jonan-gu, Todai-ji Ema,...

READ MORE MORITA Rieko (Japanese-style painter)

NAKAMURA Takuo (ceramist)

Categories artisans / Ceramics

　 Born in 1945, as one of three sons of a renowned ceramic artist family in Kanazawa, it took NAKAMURA Takuo (中村 卓夫) some time to follow in his father’s footsteps. Only after discovering his own creative ideas did he enter the professional ceramic artist world....

READ MORE NAKAMURA Takuo (ceramist)

SASAI Fumie (lacquer artist)

Categories artisans / Urushi

Starfish 1 　 SASAI Fumie (笹井 史恵) is highly admired both in Japan and internationally for her innovative and unique style of Urushi (Japanese lacquerware). She is also an associate professor at Kyoto City University of Arts, where she teaches Urushi art applied to new...

READ MORE SASAI Fumie (lacquer artist)

SOMENOTSUKASA YOSHIOKA (textile)

Categories artisans / Textile

work of Somenotsukasa Yoshioka 　 The all-natural textile dyeing studio Somenotsukasa Yoshioka (染司よしおか) is now run by YOSHIOKA Sarasa (吉岡 更紗) who recently took over from her father, YOSHIOKA Sachio (5th generation). With a history of over 200 years, samples of Somenotsukasa Yoshioka’s colourful creations...

READ MORE SOMENOTSUKASA YOSHIOKA (textile)

SUDO Reiko (textile designer)

Categories artisans / Textile

SUDO Reiko (須藤 玲子) is not simply a textile designer; she is a textile innovator. Her extensive knowledge of traditional weaving techniques, combined with her drive to create new textiles as an art form, make her Japan’s most influential and internationally renowned textile authority. SUDO...

READ MORE SUDO Reiko (textile designer)

All Great Things Start Small.

Categories artisans

Welcome to HIKITA-YA, a new website which promotes both traditional and modern Japanese arts and handcrafts. While some artists and craftspeople are already well established, some are yet to gain international attention.　In this first issue we introduce six great artists whom I, Hans Peter Kappeler,...

READ MORE All Great Things Start Small.