The international artists supporting Japan's craft legacy

Japan Times

19 hours ago

Japanese crafts are in high demand around the world. Both domestic and international consumers value these quality goods made by meticulous methods and infused with distinctive regional aesthetics. While this seems promising for Japanese craftspeople, one looming question remains: Will there be enough of them in the future to meet growing demand?
As Japan grapples with a declining population, its craft heritage has been hit especially hard. The number of traditional artisans has dropped significantly due to discontinuities in family-owned businesses and the migration of younger generations from rural to urban areas. This has resulted in an uncertain future for certain crafting disciplines, such as urushi lacquerware, textile weaving and dyeing and woodturning.
However, a new generation of international artists has been training in Japanese traditions with aspirations to help carry the legacy forward.
Rabea Ferber, 27, is part of this wave. When her then-fiance enrolled in an MFA in ceramics at Tokyo University of the Arts, Ferber decided to take the leap and join him, traveling from her home country of Germany to Japan on a working holiday visa in 2020.
Ferber had initially begun woodworking as a hobby while studying product design at university. Determined to continue her passion, she completed a two-year course at the Ishikawa Prefectural Institute for Yamanaka Lacquerware in Yamanaka Onsen.
Ferber and her husband, Ido, eventually made a full-time home in Ishikawa, where they have their own studio to sell her wood and lacquer tableware and his ceramic pieces.
Hailing from Germany, Rabea Ferber (center) and her husband live and work in Ishikawa Prefecture, not only selling their own crafts but highlighting local artisans through their website, Sentomono. |
Courtesy of Rabea Ferber
'What we like about Yamanaka, the reason we decided to stay, is that it's a really small community and everyone knows each other,' Ferber says. Her dedication to Japanese crafts earns her bonus points from local residents. 'Whenever I tell them I came here to study craft, they respond, 'Wow, you're really dedicated! It's wonderful that you came here!' There's a lot of pride there.'
In Ferber's view, schools and artisan communities that offer training are concerned that students, whether domestic or international, won't stick around. 'The worry is that a lot of people come here, they study, and then they leave and don't continue the craft or don't contribute to the area,' she says, 'so there's a big desire to have people stay.'
Forging community
For the past four years, Canadian-born Jesse Cunningham, 42, has been working as a blacksmith in rural Kochi Prefecture. After training and working as a blacksmith in Canada and Spain, he wanted to transition into toolmaking — and where better than the land that's home to the legendary katana?
Cunningham initially came to Japan through the JET Programme, teaching English in Oita Prefecture while keeping an eye out for opportunities. He eventually discovered a forge run by blacksmith Nobuya Hayashi in Kochi that offered short classes.
'I joined one of the workshops and, during that time, I found out there was a longer (class) I could take,' says Cunningham. 'So after I finished my teaching contract, I came back over and did a weeklong workshop.' But a week's training wasn't going to cut it.
'I heard that, in Japan, it's impolite to straight up ask for a position. However, I wasn't above dropping a lot of pretty serious hints about wanting to continue on.' After some discreet back-and-forth communications with Hayashi, Cunningham was formally asked to stay on at the forge. Hayashi supported his visa change paperwork and even helped him and his partner find housing in an akiya (abandoned home) for rent nearby.
Over the years, Cunningham and Hayashi have developed a strong working relationship. 'When it started, we didn't know where it was going to go or how it was going to work, because he'd never had an employee before. But I can optimistically say it's going well.'
Beyond their local ties, both Ferber and Cunningham have built a wider network through their craft. Ferber and her husband met many colleagues through their training, some of whom they feature on their website, Sentomono, which helps sell their work to global clients.
'We've met many young artists who, compared to us, have little to no internet presence and don't sell abroad at all. We, on the other hand, have a huge interest in our work from foreign customers,' Ferber says. 'Though we're learning Japanese craft from Japanese people, we have an advantage selling because we can better access the international market. We felt this was unfair. At the same time, we want to help the artists that we personally know.'
Under Hayashi's tutelage, Cunningham has also collaborated with other craftspeople from across Japan, including those interested in workshop pedagogy. 'We had two other blacksmiths in the workshop the other week: a garden toolmaker from central Honshu ... and one of our neighbor blacksmiths (who) popped in to watch our workshops because he's also thinking of doing them,' he says. 'That was really fun because he's an excellent blacksmith.'
Connections beyond nationality
As Japan's crafting culture grows in popularity, the study of Japanese craft has traveled well beyond the country's borders. Ceramic artist Virginija Kliseviciute Fujie, 38, first encountered Japanese crafts in a foundation course at Leksand Folk High School in Sweden.
'The school has a very good connection with Japanese craft and a number of Japanese exchange students would visit,' Fujie explains. 'It even had a Japanese (wood-fired) kiln, an anagama, which is rare to see in Sweden.'
This experience inspired Fujie to spend close to four months at Tokyo Zokei University in 2013, an exchange program through which she studied classical sculpture.
'I studied a lot of practical sculpture, working with models, and I also tried stone carving, which I loved,' she says. 'I had ... the old guard teaching me, masters who had worked there for 50 to 60 years, and they retired just after I finished — so I was incredibly lucky.' She also happened to meet her husband during this period.
Virginija Kliseviciute Fujie first encountered Japanese ceramics as a high school student in Sweden. After several stints studying in Tokyo, she returned to Japan permanently to live and work in the seaside town of Kamakura. |
Laura Pollacco
Fujie went on to pursue her master's degree in ceramic arts back in Sweden, coming to Japan for another yearlong exchange in 2015. After completing her degree, she resettled in Japan permanently and now lives and works out of her studio in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture.
Thanks to her seaside location, Fujie has taken up surfing, which has the double effect of inspiring her current work in ceramics as well as introducing her to a brand-new audience. 'The biggest surprise has been how that community has responded,' she says. 'They come and support my exhibitions in Kamakura — even people who never had an interest in ceramics.'
For Fujie, all art is a form of communication and a chance for connection beyond nationality. 'When I think about all the weird cups I have made and sold, and how there are people, somewhere, drinking their morning coffee out of them and enjoying it, it's mind-boggling to me.'
Fujie, Ferber and Cunningham all came to Japan to cultivate a specific skill and join a lineage that was not available in their home countries. But beyond their engagement with their respective crafts, they each found something deeper: community, collaboration and a place of their own in Japan's cultural landscape.
Whether they realize it or not, they have joined the narrative of Japanese craftsmanship — and are also shaping its future.
Learn more about the artists via their Instagram accounts @rabea.gebler @jessethedeshi and @sculptspace