Japanese contemporary craft is attracting attention on the global art scene by pursuing innovative expression while inheriting traditional techniques.
Artists active in diverse fields such as ceramics, lacquerware, metalwork, and glass have received high acclaim at exhibitions and collections both domestically and internationally.
However, it’s not easy to know which craft artists among the many are internationally recognized.
This article carefully selects 10 Japanese contemporary craft artists thriving on the world stage and introduces their characteristics and representative activities.
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10 Japanese Contemporary Craft Artists Thriving on the World Stage
Japanese contemporary craft generates new sculptural expressions recognized on the international stage while based on traditional materials and techniques.
By giving unique interpretations to materials such as bamboo, glass, and clay, and incorporating relationships with space, light, and nature into their works, they create strong impressions on viewers.
Here, we feature Japanese contemporary craft artists who are active worldwide and highly acclaimed at museums and international exhibitions both domestically and internationally.
Their activities intersect not only with craft but also with art, architecture, and design, attracting attention as carriers of international cultural exchange.
Imaizumi Imaemon XIV — Refined Pattern Composition of Iro-Nabeshima
Imaizumi Imaemon XIV (born 1962 in Arita Town, Saga Prefecture) is a ceramic artist known domestically and internationally for his refined pattern composition of “Iro-Nabeshima,” considered the pinnacle of Nabeshima ware, which he carries into the present day.
Nabeshima ware is porcelain born in the Saga domain’s official kiln during the Edo period, developed as tribute and gift items for the Shogun family and feudal lords, known for the delicacy of its overglaze painting and advanced techniques.
While protecting the Nabeshima style passed down through generations, Imaizumi has pioneered new expression by adding contemporary color sensibility and pattern composition.
Particularly characteristic are his development of the “Sekka Sumihajiki” technique expanding on the “Sumihajiki” technique, screen composition utilizing negative space, and deep coloration born from layering colored pigments, creating elegant beauty while abstracting motifs from nature.
In 2014, he was designated as a holder of Important Intangible Cultural Property “Overglaze Enameled Porcelain” (Living National Treasure) at the youngest age in the ceramics field, receiving numerous awards at the Japan Traditional Kōgei Exhibition and elsewhere.
His works are collected in museums domestically and internationally, including the National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo, British Museum, and Auckland Museum. He is active as an artist pursuing new sculptural beauty of contemporary Iro-Nabeshima while inheriting the tradition of Iro-Nabeshima into the future.
Chikuunsai IV Tanabe — Bamboo Installation Art and Expression of Giant Woven Structures
Chikuunsai IV Tanabe (real name: Takeo Tanabe, born 1973 in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture) is an artist attracting attention for works that fuse traditional craft and contemporary art using the traditional material of bamboo.
Familiar with bamboo from childhood, he studied at Osaka Municipal Kogei High School Art Department and Tokyo University of the Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts, Sculpture Department. After graduation, he spent two years at the Oita Prefecture Bamboo Craft Training Center building foundations in bamboo weaving and design, then inherited the techniques of his father, Chikuunsai III, and succeeded to the name Chikuunsai IV Tanabe in 2017.
Tanabe’s works combine giant woven structures and bamboo forms drawing freely curved lines with installation elements that fill space, making viewers rerecognize bamboo’s presence and the material’s possibilities.
In 2001, he was invited to exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, and subsequently held exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, British Museum, Musée national des arts asiatiques-Guimet, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and others. A characteristic feature is that his works are collected in these museums.
In 2022, he received the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists. Transcending the framework of traditional bamboo craft, he has established recognition on the world stage through expression weaving light, shadow, and space.
Ritsue Mishima — Innovation in Glass Sculpture Based in Venice
Ritsue Mishima (born 1962 in Kyoto Prefecture) is a glass artist who has been based on Murano Island in Venice, Italy.
Since relocating to Italy in 1989, from 1996 she began collaboration with artisans at glass workshops on Murano Island, pursuing works of organic forms in transparent glass. Since 2011, she has also maintained a residence in Kyoto, currently living in two locations.
Her body of work that transmits and reflects light emphasizes expressing resonance with the environment and the presence that envelops space.
She has conducted numerous installations in public spaces and collaborations with architectural spaces, receiving international recognition for this diverse expression.
In 2022, at her solo exhibition “RITSUE MISHIMA ‒ GLASS WORKS” at the Gallerie dell’Accademia (Venice), she developed an exhibition conscious of both visual and experiential aspects, winning “Best Project Award – Fondazione di Venezia Award” in The Italian Glass Weeks Venice category.
That same year, she also received the BVLGARI AVRORA AWARDS. Her expression drawing light and contours can be said to embody the fusion of tradition and modernity.
Machiko Ogawa — Clay Texture and Sculptural Beauty of Hollow Forms
Machiko Ogawa (born 1946 in Sapporo, Hokkaido) is an artist pursuing unique sculptural beauty in the realm of ceramics. After graduating from Tokyo University of the Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Crafts (Ceramics Major) in 1969, she studied ceramics as a trainee at École Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Métiers in Paris (1969-71), and from 1972 to 75, accompanied her husband, anthropologist Junzo Kawada, on craft technology surveys in West Africa, serving as his assistant while researching ceramics locally.
Attracted to minerals since childhood, during her Paris stay she was shocked by the beauty of mineral specimens at the mineralogy museum, acquiring the philosophy that “form already exists.”
By accepting elements traditionally considered “flaws” such as cracks, chips, and glaze crawling, and incorporating them into the texture and sculptural hollows of her works, she develops works that convey the vitality of clay.
In 1992, she received the Takashimaya Foundation for Culture New Artist Encouragement Award, in 2001 the Japan Ceramic Society Award, and in 2008 the 58th Art Encouragement Prize Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award. With numerous solo and curated exhibitions domestically and internationally, her works are collected at institutions including Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Suntory Museum of Art, National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Victoria & Albert Museum.
Her “vessels” that emphasize dialogue with viewers are supported as sculptural beauty that draws out the archetypal power of materials.
Jun Kaneko — Large-Scale Ceramics and Color Field Composition “Dango”
Jun Kaneko (born 1942 in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, residing in the United States) is a contemporary ceramics master known for large-scale ceramic works and vivid color field composition.
In particular, his signature series “Dango” features the first work created in 1983 at Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, Nebraska, a massive ceramic sculpture 6 feet (approximately 1.8 meters) tall and weighing 5.5 tons. Currently, he creates works exceeding 13 feet (approximately 4 meters) in height, with geometric colors and patterns applied, receiving high international acclaim.
Kaneko immigrated to the United States in 1963 aspiring to be a painter, encountered ceramics at Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, and studied under American contemporary ceramics masters Peter Voulkos and Jerry Rothman. Since 1986, based in Omaha in the American Midwest, he has expanded ceramics into the realm of sculptural form.
His works function not merely as craft objects but also as public art placed in urban spaces, installed at museums and public facilities in various locations.
The balance of bold forms with delicate surface decoration liberated ceramics from the concept of “vessels,” presenting possibilities as abstract art.
His works are collected in museums worldwide including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and Victoria and Albert Museum, with many presentations at international exhibitions, and he has many fans throughout the world, particularly in America.
Kimiyo Mishima — Transferring Printed Images and Contemporary Sensibility Through Ceramics
Kimiyo Mishima (born 1932 in Osaka Prefecture) was an artist known for unique expression transferring printed matter and everyday information onto the material of ceramics. She began production in the 1950s, belonged to the Independent Art Association from 1954 to 69, producing oil paintings. In the 1960s, she created flat works collaging newspapers and magazines, and in 1971 at the “Japan Ceramics Exhibition” avant-garde section, first exhibited three-dimensional works “Breaking Printed Matter” transferring printed matter onto ceramics via silkscreen, meticulously reproducing in ceramics motifs symbolizing mass consumption society such as newspapers, cardboard, and posters.
The contrast between the heaviness obtained through firing and the lightness and temporality of printed matter gives her works unique tension.
Mishima’s works are characterized by fusing the traditionality of ceramics with contemporary social critical perspectives, receiving high acclaim domestically and internationally as museum collections.
In 1986-87, she studied in New York on a Rockefeller Foundation scholarship. In recent years, she participated in the 2021 Mori Art Museum exhibition “Another Energy: Power to Continue Challenging – 16 Women Artists from Around the World” and received the 63rd Mainichi Art Award in 2022. Large-scale exhibitions were held in America and Europe, and she was positioned within the context of global contemporary art.
Her attitude of questioning society’s state while using traditional materials is valued as an important practice expanding the possibilities of contemporary craft.
Koichi Uchida — Minimal Forms and the Aesthetic of Tea
Koichi Uchida (born 1969 in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture) is an artist attracting attention for minimal forms in ceramics and aesthetic consciousness of tea ceremony culture.
After completing the ceramics specialty course at Aichi Prefectural Seto Ceramics High School in 1990, he accumulated on-site production at pottery sites around the world including Asia, Africa, and Europe, established a studio in Yokkaichi City, Mie Prefecture in 1992, and became independent. Works that utilize simple forms and unglazed textures, drawing out the presence of the material itself, are contemporary while evoking Japanese spirituality.
Particularly, vessels related to tea ceremony such as tea bowls and flower vases are highly acclaimed for forms emphasizing negative space and quietness, and in 2018 he received the Japan Ceramic Society Award.
Uchida has held numerous exhibitions domestically and internationally, and also develops wide-ranging activities including furniture and furnishings production using iron, plaster, and wood, collaboration with spatial design and architecture, and in 2015 the opening of “BANKO archive design museum,” a private museum themed on Banko ware.
His attitude of perceiving ceramics as “forms connecting life and space” renews conventional craft perspectives, presenting new value of craft in contemporary times.
Kunihiko Moriguchi — Geometric Composition and Color Field Design in Yūzen Dyeing
Kunihiko Moriguchi (born 1941 in Kyoto City) is a dyeing artist designated as a holder of Important Intangible Cultural Property “Yūzen” in 2007. Along with his father Kako Moriguchi, who was designated as the first holder of Important Intangible Cultural Property (Living National Treasure No. 1) for yūzen in 1967, they are known as the first case in traditional craft field system history where parent and child were recognized as Important Intangible Cultural Property holders during the same period.
While inheriting traditional yūzen techniques, after graduating from Kyoto City University of Arts Japanese Painting Department in 1963, he utilized his experience studying graphic design at École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, incorporating geometric composition and bold color field division to create highly contemporary designs.
Moriguchi’s works create rhythmic space through color overlapping and division, giving an impression like abstract painting. In contrast to his father’s figurative style with motifs of flowers, birds, wind, and moon, he pursues innovative expression employing clear geometric patterns.
He has received high acclaim at overseas exhibitions including his solo exhibition “Kunihiko Moriguchi – The Hidden Order” at Maison de la culture du Japon à Paris (2016), and is known as a figure internationally introducing Japanese dyeing art.
He was selected as a Person of Cultural Merit in 2020, and awarded the French Republic’s Legion of Honor Commander’s Cross in 2021.
In 2023, he announced “Precious Box” in collaboration with Van Cleef & Arpels. His activities transcending the framework of traditional craft and becoming a bridge between design and art are innovative practices connecting yūzen dyeing to the next generation.
Reiko Sudo (NUNO) — Experimental Textiles and International Collaborative Production
Reiko Sudo (born 1953 in Ibaraki Prefecture) participated in establishing the textile design studio “NUNO” in 1983, and since 1987 has led as representative and director, a designer receiving global recognition for experimental and original fabric creation.
After completing the specialty course at Musashino Art University Junior College Industrial Design Department in 1975, while active as a hand-weaving artist, her encounter with Junichi Arai became the catalyst for NUNO’s establishment. She thoroughly explores fabric possibilities by incorporating diverse materials such as Japanese paper, metals, and feathers into weaving and dyeing.
She is also active in the spatial design field, directing all interior fabrics for Mandarin Oriental Tokyo and displaying over 300 koinobori (carp streamers) at the National Art Center Tokyo in 2018.
Her works are collected in 25 institutions domestically and internationally including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Victoria & Albert Museum, and National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo, representing contemporary Japanese textiles.
She has received numerous awards including the 1994 Roscoe Award, 2007 Mainichi Design Award, 2022 Enku Grand Prize, and 2023 Fiscal Year Reiwa 5 Art Encouragement Prize Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award (Fine Arts Category A).
Since 2016, she has served on the Ryohin Keikaku Co., Ltd. Advisory Board. Sudo’s activities can be said to be pioneers of international cultural exchange mediated through fabric, renewing the concept of traditional textiles.
Yukie Osumi — Refined Metalwork Expression Through Tankin × Nunome-Zōgan
Yukie Osumi (born 1945 in Shizuoka Prefecture) is a metalwork artist who in 2015 became the first woman designated as a holder of Important Intangible Cultural Property in the tankin (forging metal) field.
After graduating from Tokyo University of the Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts, Art Studies Department, Craft History Major in 1969, she studied under Moriyuki Katsura and Kazuya Kashima in chōkin (metal engraving) and Shiro Sekiya in tankin, establishing unique techniques fusing nunome-zōgan and chōkin based on tankin, which shapes metal by hammering.
Particularly in nunome-zōgan, after forming a vessel in silver, she makes fine cuts on the surface and meticulously inlays different metals such as gold, silver, lead, and platinum, creating a shimmer like silk fabric on the surface.
At the 34th Japan Traditional Kōgei Exhibition in 1987, she received the Japan Kogei Association Imperial Prize for “Silver Hammered Flower Vase ‘Fūtō’,” and her style expressing natural phenomena such as waves and wind as powerful forms was acclaimed. Representative works including the “Kaikyō” and “Ōshio” series, with sculptural beauty symbolizing natural phenomena, are highly acclaimed domestically and internationally and collected in major museums including the National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo.
She received the Medal with Purple Ribbon in 2010, was selected as the first Smithsonian Institution Visiting Artist in 2014, and is internationally recognized. Yukie Osumi’s style is innovative in combining traditional refined techniques with contemporary sculptural sensibility, bringing the delicate aesthetic unique to female artists into craft.
Conclusion
Japanese contemporary craft artists have established unique expression in diverse fields such as bamboo, ceramics, lacquer, textiles, metalwork, glass, and textiles, receiving high acclaim on the world stage.
They not only inherit traditional techniques but also present new craft values by incorporating contemporary sensibilities and international perspectives.
Their activities extend beyond individual works to include collaboration with architecture and design and roles as carriers of cultural exchange.
All 10 artists featured this time face their materials sincerely and are figures pioneering the future of craft. Learning about their activities provides significant clues to understanding the possibilities of Japanese craft in contemporary times.
