About Asada Lacquerware
Asada Shikki Kōgei continues to create lacquerware based on techniques passed down through generations in Yamanaka Onsen, Kaga City, Ishikawa Prefecture, a production center for Yamanaka lacquerware.
Those who turn wood, those who apply lacquer.
Each piece of lacquerware is crafted with the handiwork of artisans who have inherited these skills in this region.
What we value is not merely preserving tradition as it is.
If lifestyles and dining tables change, the form of lacquerware can also change.
While valuing the techniques we have inherited, we strive to create items that people living today will naturally want to hold.
That is the starting point of our craftsmanship.
Born from this place.
Our workshop is located in a place surrounded by rice paddies, mountains, and rich nature.
It is not a particularly convenient location.
However, living and creating here allows us to see unique landscapes.
Spring buds, summer sunsets, mountains changing colors in autumn, and winter wrapped in snow.
Even in the same place, the scenery subtly changes its expression with the seasons, time, and light.
On the other hand, being surrounded by nature sometimes makes us yearn for cityscapes.
The lights of windows floating in the night city. The beautiful night views created by streetlights and building lights.
Both the nature around us and the distant, admired scenery are sources of our craftsmanship.
What we see because we live in this place.
What we yearn for because we are in this place.
We create our lacquerware by transforming the landscapes and memories that have stayed in our hearts into colors, textures, and the expressions of lacquer.
New expressions for inherited techniques.
This philosophy is also connected to the various pieces we have created so far.
"Utsuroi," which combines the warmth of wood with contemporary colors reminiscent of metal.
"Motenashi Glass," which combines different materials like wood and brass, bringing their individual charms into a single vessel.
Gradation lacquerware that expresses memorable landscapes such as evening skies, night cities, and snowy nights through shifting lacquer colors.
And "Murakumo-nuri," which creates unique expressions through the soot of lacquer and Japanese candles.
The expressions are different.
However, the underlying philosophy is the same.
It is to create items that move the heart in contemporary life, combining materials, colors, and techniques, all based on the skills of Yamanaka lacquerware.
Instead of simply repeating what has been passed down, we continue to search for new expressions of Yamanaka lacquerware that can only be born in the present era.
A small landscape in the palm of your hand.
Lacquerware is not just something to display and look at.
It is meant to be held, to serve food and drink, and to be used in daily life while gathering around a table with others.
That's why we want to create items that subtly stir the heart each time they are used, or bring back memories and scenery.
The techniques passed down in Yamanaka and what we have felt in our daily lives.
By combining these two, we will continue to create lacquerware that accompanies modern life.
A small landscape in the palm of your hand.
That is Asada Shikki Kōgei's approach to craftsmanship.
