[Vol. 1] Masterclass: Tokyo Crafts, a Collaborative Art Event Held by Tokyo’s Edo Tokyo Kirari Project and Britain’s Victoria and Albert Museum

My name is Noritaka Tatehana, and I am a contemporary artist and a member of the Edo Tokyo Kirari Project promotion committee.

On October 29, the City of Tokyo and Britain’s Victoria and Albert Museum (“V&A”) collaboratively held “Masterclass: Tokyo Crafts,” an art event in London that I produced. Through this three-issue series, I’d like to introduce the activities being conducted by the Victoria and Albert Museum, where this event was held, and by the Edo Tokyo Kirari Project.

I travelled to the U.K. along with representatives from komachi-beni maker Isehan-Honten, Edo woodblock printmaker Takahashi Kobo, and Tokyo kumihimo maker Ryukobo, model craftspeople in the Kirari Project. Over the several days of our stay, we shared the value and allure of “Tokyo (Edo)’s treasures” — traditional techniques and the products of veteran workshops from Tokyo, from various perspectives through activities such as museum gallery tours and by holding lectures and workshops at the art event. We also engaged in discussions regarding the overseas development of the project.

In the gallery tour led by Masami Yamada, Curator for Japan in the Asian Department of the Victoria and Albert Museum, tour participants took in “Beguiling Beni: Safflower Red in Japanese Fashion,” a special exhibition in the museum’s Japanese art gallery. Among the pieces on display were heel-less shoes, a collaboration between Isehan-Honten and myself. This piece was a special model made with iridescent rouge from Isehan-Honten, made using the same techniques since the Edo era. The piece is a new addition to the museum’s collection, for showing in special exhibitions.

The works in this collection, brought together from around the world, were assembled in line with the museum’s focus on education, which has been part of its mission since its foundation. From ancient sculpture to avant-garde fashion, the collection is so vast that it like a veritable “Textbook of Art,” with far too many pages to read in a single day.

Koshi Nemoto (Deputy Director-General of the Tokyo Bureau of Industrial and Labor Affairs) paid a courtesy call to Dr. Antonia Boström, the Director of Collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum. They discussed the Edo Tokyo Kirari Project, the appeal of the craftsmanship of traditional Japanese industries, and the potential for future collaboration.

Japanese artists have also achieved tremendous success with the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize, of which Dr. Boström is an expert panelist. Dr. Boström expressed delight at the fact that traditional craftsmanship has been carried on into our modern era, and shared her view that Japan was a global craftsmanship leader.

* The LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize was created in 2016 by the LOEWE FOUNDATION (founded by the family that established the Spanish fashion brand LOEWE) to recognize “excellence, newness, innovation, and artistic vision in modern craftsmanship.”

Photo by GION
©︎ Edo Tokyo Kirari Project and Victoria and Albert Museum, London