Artists & Artworks

Kota Arinaga (b. 1978) is an innovative glass sculptural artist who draws on the cross-cultural history of the material. Arinaga’s latest series is an interpretation of the Venetian reticello technique, colorful canes woven into patterns within the glass. Glass has a temporal aspect, requiring careful temperature control and sculpting. Arinaga's glass artworks vary in size in shape, pushing the boundaries of technique and physics.

A native of Seto City in Aichi Prefecture, Ryusuke Asai is a dynamic ceramic artist with a certain flair for the creative, including a career as a musician. The new generation from a family of photographers and ceramicists, the craftsman spirit is innate to Asai.

Laura de Santillana (1955–2019) was raised in Venice surrounded by the greatest glass artists of the 20th century. She studied classics and architecture before moving to New York City, where she worked with the Vignelli Associates studio whilst attending the School of Visual Arts. De Santillana went on to design art books and began designing objects and lamps for Venini alongside her father Ludovico, and later de Santillana served as art director of the family business until 1993. Her work on kaiseki glass began a long working relationship with Japan that deeply affected her designs. 

Shin Fujihira (b. 1922–2012) came of age under the influence of his father, who  established the Fujihira Pottery Company in 1916 in Gojozaka, the main pottery district in the city of Kyoto. Diagnosed with tuberculosis after the outbreak of the Pacific War, Fujihira struggled during his early adulthood, narrowly recovering from near death. Through this time, Fujihira turned towards art as motivation, and this passion was revitalizing. For Fujihira pottery was an escape from depression; an opportunity to transformation his appreciation for the joys of life.

Yasushi Fujihira (b. 1963) is an innovative potter known for his soft, matte-silver glazes. Fujihira studied in Kyoto, where the Fujihira family owned a ceramic company in the pottery district of Gojozaka. Under his father, Shin, Fujihira developed his own aesthetic, which earned him the Mayor’s Award at the 1990 Kyoto Arts Exhibition. Fujihira’s works were selected for numerous Asahi Modern Craft Exhibitions and the 2008 Ceramic Art Grand Prize Exhibition at Paramita Museum.

Born in Hyogo Prefecture, Kansuke Fujii (b. 1947) now resides in Kyoto where he works as a self-taught draftsman. It wasn't until 1988 when Fujii first displayed his work in a solo exhibition in Tokyo. Throughout his career, Fujii has maintined a focus on painting still lifes of plants and nature on a dark background.

Noriyuki Furutani (b. 1984) is a master of the Tenmoku; Furutani’s perfectly shaped bowls accentuate the unfolding cosmos of the decorative oil spotting pattern. Furutani’s bowls are conventionally the most formal of tea bowls, as the style is based on the bowls of the Buddhist Tianmu Temple in China. Now based in Shigaraki, Furutani continues to hone his practice after completing artist residencies at Anderson Ranch Arts in Colorado, USA, and Hanaoki Kiln in Toki City, Gifu, Japan.

Tadataka Kishino (b. 1938) studied painting under Kobayashi Undo-jin and he practiced Zen meditation under Yamada Mumon Roshi at Myoshin-ji Temple. During the more than 50 years Kishino has adhered to Buddhism the call to the calligraphy practice and the ink wash painting remains keen. Kishino strictly applies a realism approach, painting from direct observation. Ink painters who have made their mark in history too had a relentless eye for detail. This intensity of seeing led to Kishino's fantastical worlds. Imagination is brought forward and coalesces around the brushstrokes, creating depth in space through lines, without relying on perspective or shading techniques. This has been the foundation of his ink style, and his career as a painter has now spanned over 50 years.

Ryoji Koie (1938-2020) might be considered one of Japan's most forward-thinking artists of his time. Born in 1938 in Tokoname, Koie studied ceramics from a young age. Still, his bright spirit and curiosity made him a bold and experimental artist while staying true to traditional Japanese ceramic forms. His gestural application of glazes on the surface and the giant x creates a dynamic and innovative approach inspired by postwar contemporary art by artists such as Jackson Pollock. Koie won multiple awards throughout his career, including the Japan Ceramic Society Award in 1992, the Chunichi Cultural Award in 2005, and the Gold Prize for the Japan Society Award in 2008. His works can be found in permanent collections worldwide, such as the Smithsonian Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, Centre National de Georges Pompidou, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Seoul Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Hirotomi Maeda (b. 1961) is a celebrated metalsmith whose decorative vessels are incomparable in the world of Japanese contemporary art. Equipped with a hammer and his hands, Maeda inlays alloy filaments and pounds the flat sheet metal into an oblong shape. A Professor of Fine Arts at Tokyo University of Arts, Maeda’s celebrated career includes top awards at national arts exhibitions, Japan’s Purple Ribbon, and honors including commissioned metalworks for Osaka’s Kenshoji Temple and to commemorate the ascension of Emperor Naruhito in 2019. 

Leading ceramicist Masahiro Maeda (b. 1948) is known for glaze-painted porcelains pioneering distinctly contemporary designs. Maeda's approach to iro-e technique innovate traditional Japanese forms and color arrangements. His method of creating woven texture using paint masks produces timeless layered and overlapping surfaces. Maeda's works exhibited at the Victoria & Albert, Smithsonian National Museum, and Tokyo National Museum among many others, and are in collections of the highest caliber including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, and many more. Maeda's work has led him to serve as a judge at Japan's top ceramic competitions, and his contributions to contemporary ceramic design influence generations of Japanese artists as director of Japan Crafts Association in addition to many other leadership roles at key craft institutions.