The Kutani porcelain ware has done away with the designs that normally adorn each piece and features consistent base patterns. Gilding was applied in the image of clouds. Paulownia has been crafted into the shape of a plate and covered with gold-relief of traditional patterns. For the lacquerware, the rims are covered with tin, which is a style characteristic of Kanazawa craft.

The challenge of this project was to create works that people in today’s world will admire and want to own, while still preserving the culture and techniques that makers of traditional crafts have cultivated down the ages. That was a factor behind the project; however, the contemporary design concepts should not supersede the culture of traditional craftsmen.

Primarily, in traditional crafts, beauty is discovered by engaging in a conversation with the material. Through the hands of the craftsman coming into contact with the material, truth is found and realized by their hands – that, KUROKAWA think, is the nature of their work. For the craftsman, “material” encompasses everything under the sun, such as soil and trees, which signifies the land we live on. Going beyond that, there’s Earth, nature, and space. It seems fair to say that craftsmen are those who engage in a dialogue with Earth and space.


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