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Kazunori Koutsuka (高塚和則) is a popular Japanese timber furniture maker and woodwork artist in Japan. He is based in Tochigi Prefecture in Japan. When he was a young kid, his dream was to do handcrafts. After he finished his high school, he had decided to make passionate dream come true. So he started his journey to be a woodwork artisan since then. 

He truly believes that "wood" actually exists like a god to the nature and everyone. Shaping and making use of every single piece of wood is his forever job and mission. He thinks that it's his gratitude towards wood if his works can bring joy and convenience to people's life.

After reading the book about the history of shaker box published in the US, Kenichi Okuno was inspired by how beautiful handcrafted goods are. And so, he quitted his previous career in the business field and entered the art industry by self-learning.

With countless test and error, he managed to work out the perfect formula of making his shaker boxes. He said that his dream is to deliver his wooden boxes to households who love the beautiful mother of nature and sustainability of life goods.

Kie Zakka was established by a Japanese couple the Oota's, who are based in Gifu, Japan.

Gifu is a famous city in Japan manufacturing quality timber furniture thanks to the natural supply of high quality timber in the area. By achieving the purpose of timber sustainability, Mr Oota makes use of the offcut timber pieces of furniture and transforms them into unique designs and shapes. Mrs Oota carefully selects non-toxic acrylic paints and natural oil, which are safe for serving food, to hand draw an adorable girl with different characteristics on each single piece of crafted timber. Therefore, every piece is unique due to the delicate one-of-a-kind work progress.

The Oota's said that they are so happy to be able to live in the beautiful city Gifu where is surrounding by the most beautiful nature. Their aim is to make everyone feel happy and loved in daily life by holding their works in hands. We're so happy to meet the Oota's who aim to create handcrafted works which can cheer people up every day.

Koji Aoki was from a business background and had worked as a businessman for more than 10 years in Tokyo before becoming a potter. He had achieved great success in his career during the 1990s. One day, he went to a ceramic exhibition of the renowned British ceramicist Lucie Rie in Tokyo. He was impressed by how amazing the techniques of handcrafted ceramics are and instantly fell in love with pottery. In a family trip to Kamakura in Kanagawa Prefecture, he had his heart set to move to that quiet and tranquil little town for good.

With his family’s support, he learnt about pottery by himself and created his original glaze colours at his home studio. His talents brought him many opportunities to hold exhibitions in different cities in Japan.

Kukan Chuzo (空間鋳造) Atelier is based in the birth place of Nanbu-Tekki (the famous cast ion Japanese teapots) in Iwate, Japan. The designer and maker of Kukan Chuzo, Hisao Iwashimizu, takes a modern twist to the design his creations. His idea is to design a traditional Japanese cast iron kyusu with exceptional level of attention-to- detail, to fit in modern living timelessly for everyone.    

Cast iron kyusu is mainly used to serve hot tea and cold drinks because of its excellent thermal retaining and insulation functions.

“It’s not just a piece of ceramic.

You may see a self-reflection when looking at it and using it.”

The young potter Makoto Saito was born in 1989 in Hokkaido. He was graduated from Kanazawa Art and Craft University in 2014. He is currently based in Seto City in Aichi Prefecture. His works are not purely crockeries on your kitchen shelves, but also play a role in our daily life. He believes that his works can deliver happiness to users and communicate with them without knowing who they are. He thinks this is the value of his works.

Mio Suzuki is the artist behind Suzuki Carving Studio in Fukui, Japan. When talking about Fukui prefecture, it is an important place where the most famous Japanese traditions are based in since decades ago, such as washi, urushi wares, metalworks, ceramics, etc. Suzuki Carving Studio was established in 1968. Their major professions are related to architectural designs and wooden sculptures for old Japanese temples and shrines.

Mio Suzuki makes use of her time to try to bring more happiness to people's daily life besides working for Japanese temples. She believes that she's fortunate to be able to create and deliver her hand-carved wooden objects to different users. Her works are magical that always make people smile and feel happy.

Biography

2012 Exhibited at "Future Tradition WAO" in New York and Paris.

2012 Exhibited at Tokyo Design Week Professional Exhibition.

2012 Exhibited at Hikarie d47Museum "Nippon's 47 Artists 2013 Crafts" in Tokyo.

Motoharu Ozawa is a contemporary Japanese ceramic artist whose works are famous for the unique and creative hues which are mostly inspired by the beautifully natural surroundings in his town. Based in Gifu prefecture, the globally well-known city of Japanese pottery, Motoharu Ozawa is dedicated to delivering his colourful ceramic pieces to users, allowing them to immerse themselves into a joyful lifestyle whilst reminding them to re-discover the beauty of mother nature.

Messages from Motoharu Ozawa to our Japanese craft lovers:

"Some people may want to know how I create a variety of unique colours of my works. The fundamental ingredients that I use for my creative hues are sourced and from various types of metal and local clay that is rich in iron."

"There are always endless possibilities in numerous combinations of metal and clay. I found this could be one of the most interesting things of my career that keep myself focus on what I'm passionate about and motivate myself to continue to look for colours that I've never seen. My dream is to see users to curate their dining tables like painting on a canvas by utilising my ceramics in different colours."

"There're some important points that users need to be aware of after they have purchased my works. When you use acidic dish detergent for cleaning ceramics in the Jade colour, there's a possibility of colour changing. Please use neutral and mild dish detergent instead. Also, I highly recommend a few minutes of pre-soaking for Kohiki glazed ceramics before the first use. It might be an extra thing to do but this important step helps prevent oil and food colours from penetrating the layer of the Kohiki glaze. This pre-soaking tip will be a useful protection for the glaze."

• Born in 1976 in Shizuoka Prefecture
• After graduating from Tokyo Zokei University, he studied under ceramic master Taizo Kuroda.
• In 2003, he became an independent ceramic artist and built his atelier and kiln at the foot of Mt. Fuji in Shizuoka Prefecture.
• His style mainly focuses on monotone colours. His original style for Hakuji with Tetsuyu iron glaze, which is a fusion of black and white vessels, is his iconic series of works.

Before becoming an independent glasswork artist, Nobuko Soda graduated from a bachelor degree of Applied Physics in Japan. In 2006, she decided to quit her office job and to start her journey to explore and create magics using her hands.

The unique style of Nobuko Soda's glass works consists of 3 elements - Bubbles, Rust and Blue. Each alternative collaboration among these 3 elements has its own texture and ambience, and they look very differently. This is the reason why her works are so fascinating and special. The handcrafted glass works that you have never seen elsewhere! 

Characteristics of different series of combinations:

- "Bubbles and Rust" Series: Bubbles are presented in a way that they're dancing freely in a brass texture. This combination also looks like the scattering sparks of "hanabi" (fireworks) surrounding the glass surface. It's a random yet beautiful melting point when chemicals start their harmonious dancing once they have met. The brass bubbles are then captured within the transparent layer of glass when Nobuko Soda stops blowing the glass. These fascinating moments between glass and brass will never appears in the exactly same form again. And, each of these scenes seems to be moving when you hold the works in your hands.

- "Bubbles and Blue" Series: This series is perfect for summer which reminds you the memory of going to the pool or visiting an aquarium. The 3-dimensional texture of bubbles inside the gradational layer of blue glass gives a fresh and cool breeze. They are even better when are used to serve bubbly drinks with a scoop of floating ice-cream during summer.

- "Rust and Blue" Series: Nobuko Soda's unique blue with a metallic and rustic style is created by the chemical reaction of adding brass during production. It's not a merely simple blue colour that you normally see. Each piece of glass objects in this series mimics the movement of water surface with an uneven top glass surface. 

Shi-ren is the artist name of Japanese ceramicist Kumiko Tokuyama. Her works have a unique expression through the application of her special glazes and the organic shapes of vessels. Monet series is her signature creation which was inspired by the Monet Garden by the famous French painter Claude Monet. This series entirely showcases her talented creativity and her love towards colours and nature.

The product concept of Sonoko Matsuda's glass boxes is based on occasions to celebrate and memorise those important and precious moments. Therefore, her signature jewellery glass boxes are named "Toki-no-Hako" (ときの箱) - which means a box to store and treasure a moment. To Sonoko Matsuda, she thinks that the important things include both the times that have passed and that in the future.  

She wishes that users will use her glass boxes to store their important items such as the precious piece of jewellery, a fountain pen, a memorable piece of stone that is collected at the beachside with your loved one, or even just the air. Whenever you gently open the glass box to revisit your nice memory, it's also a beautiful moment in daily life.

The glass technique that Sonoko Matsuda uses is casting glass. The sculpting skill is called sandblasting which she uses to create the delicate flower motifs on the exterior. The hand-sculpted flower motifs interpret flower quotes and meaningful thoughts. From the complicated and time-consuming procedures of production, she wants to express her dream by each piece of thoughtful glass works to help everyone to create and store their special and valuable moments.