What happens when centuries-old Japanese craft techniques meet the imagination of some of the world’s most experimental designers? At this year’s London Design Festival, the answer can be found inside the V&A in South Kensington, where six artisans from Japan’s Tokai region have joined forces with internationally acclaimed designers and artists to create a new generation of objects.
The resulting works span ceramics, washi paper, textiles, cloisonné enamel, and braided cord, but share a common starting point: a desire to view tradition as something alive rather than fixed. For Craft x Tech Tokai Project, founded by designer and engineer Dr Hideki Yoshimoto of design studio Tangent, each designer was paired with a specialist maker from one of the region’s long-established craft communities, bringing contemporary perspectives to techniques passed down through generations. It forms one of the key shows at this year’s festival.
“Japan has accumulated an extraordinary amount of knowledge through craft – knowledge about materials, processes, nature and making – much of it developed over hundreds of years,” says Yoshimoto. “I wanted to take that knowledge outside the context in which it is normally understood, and see what new relevance it might have when it encounters very different minds.”
Tokai, which encompasses the prefectures of Aichi, Gifu, Mie and Shizuoka, has a rich history of making. Its abundant water, natural resources, high-quality clay and position along historic trade routes have fostered a diverse craft culture, while traditional knowledge and industrial innovation have developed alongside one another.
Speaking of visitors to the show, Yoshimoto says: “I hope they see that Japanese craft is not one homogeneous culture, but an accumulation of very specific knowledge developed in different places over a very long time. Tokai is particularly rich in this respect, and if the project can bring some of that knowledge into a wider contemporary context, I think that is more important than simply introducing Japanese craft to a new audience.”
Here, we speak to the designers behind the collaborations about the makers they worked with, the techniques they encountered, and what happened when their own creative languages met centuries of Japanese craft knowledge.
Fushi: David Caon × Yohei Ito
For Fushi, Australian industrial designer David Caon collaborated with Yohei Ito of pottery manufacturer Fudogama to explore the possibilities of Mino Yaki ceramics. Together they created a console and lighting piece from modular ceramic elements. “The material drove most of the decisions in the design, especially in terms of form and scale,” says Caon, who embraced the randomness of the glazing process in favour of its “deeply beautiful and emotive” surface. In Tokai, he was surprised to discover that the craftsmen surrounding the process were “young and energetic”, rather than the older, more serious group he had expected.