CRAFT X TECH TOHOKU PROJECT

Collaboration
2023-2024
  • Creative Direction : Hideki Yoshimoto
  • Curatorial Director : Maria Cristina Didero
  • Project Manager : Ai Hamaguchi, Eri Sasaki, Kana Kubota
  • Production Manager : Akane Kawahara
  • PR Manager : Yuko Kiyotake, Masumi Yamamoto
  • Phographs : Jun Sugawara, Shuhei Watanabe

A project that engaged earnestly with the materials and techniques of traditional crafts, bringing together the force of thought and the work of the hand to create new forms of expression. In collaboration with craftspeople from regions across Japan and creators from around the world, it drew out the sensibilities and aesthetics embedded deep within materials, and gave them new life in a contemporary form. More than mere preservation or reinterpretation, it was a quiet act of reexamining the values and aesthetics we needed in our time—and carrying them forward into the future.

The craft-producing districts for the inaugural edition of Craft x Tech were from the six prefectures of the Tohoku (north-east) region of Japan. The participating craftspeople were producers of Tsugaru Nuri lacquerware (from Aomori prefecture), Kawatsura Shikki lacquerware (from Akita prefecture), Nambu Tekki ironware (from Iwate prefecture), Sendai Tansu cabinet making (from Miyagi prefecture), Oitama Tsumugi textile (from Yamagata prefecture) and Aizu Hongo Yaki pottery (from Fukushima prefecture).
The designers who collaborated with these master crafts producers were Sabine Marcelis, Azusa Murakami and Alexander Groves (Studio SWINE), Ini Archibong, Yoichi Ochiai, Hideki Yoshimoto, and Michael Young.

🔗 CRAFT X TECH

伝統工芸の素材や技法に真摯に向き合いながら、思考と手の働きを重ね合わせて、新たな表現を生み出すプロジェクト。国内外のクリエイターと、日本各地の工芸産地の職人たちが協働し、素材の奥に潜む感性や美意識を丁寧にすくい上げ、現代のかたちとして立ち上げていく。単なる継承や再解釈ではなく、工芸という営みを通じて、我々の時代に必要な価値や美のあり方を問い直し、未来へとつないでいく。

Collaboration第一回は東北６県の６産地と、クリエイターによるコラボレーションを実現した。参加する工芸産地は、津軽塗 (青森県)、川連漆器 (秋田県)、南部鉄器 (岩手県)、仙台箪笥 (宮城県)、置賜紬 (山形県)、会津本郷焼 (福島県) 。そして、これらの産地と、Sabine Marcelis、Azusa Murakami and Alexander Groves (Studio SWINE)、Ini Archibong、Yoichi Ochiai、Hideki Yoshimoto、Michael Youngの６組のクリエイターがタッグを組んだ。

🔗 CRAFT X TECH