Our recently launched “Satoyama Landscapes” is inspired by the beauty of the Japan’s natural surroundings. Designed by Keigo Kamide, a popular artist and sixth-generation owner of a traditional Kutani pottery, this collection tell stories about the Satoyama and its wildlife inhabitants.
Self-discovery through artistic production
We spoke with artist Keigo Kamide, the sixth-generation owner of Kamide Choemon pottery, a Kutani ware manufacturer based in Nomi in Ishikawa Prefecture. We started by asking him to describe his work.
My main job is running the family business. I spend a lot of time on product planning, design, artisan collaboration, marketing, planning sales campaigns, and hosting live sessions on social media. I also collaborate with our recently founded partner company, Kamide Shigei, on product-related work. With Kamide Shigei I’m focused on Choemon’s Kutani ware, taking a fresh approach to product planning and design, as well as working with other brands and companies. I also exhibit my works as an independent artist through regular solo exhibitions. Your pottery has a long history, going all the way back to 1879.
What is your perspective on the business as the sixth-generation owner?
Traditional arts and crafts are often thought of as “old”, so I try to reinterpret them from a contemporary perspective. Rather than sticking rigorously to tradition, I try not to stray too far from it. Porcelain craftmanship began in China before its introduction to Japan, and my work draws inspiration from this tradition. I have a specific style, but I try to be as flexible as possible in my interpretation of history.
You’ve seen this factory in action since you were young. When did you first become aware of your interest in the arts?
Of course, seeing my family members and the artisans at work close up from an early age was a big influence for me, but looking back, I’ve always liked drawing. My memory’s a bit hazy, but I got a prefectural prize for my first piece of work at elementary school. It was a Kutani pottery dinosaur or something like that. I’ll never forget that!
Kamide Choemon pottery Yunomi Fuefuki
Pile of Bananas with Design of Apricot
You also learned sculpture when you were a child. What sparked your interest in that?
There was a Buddhist monastery near our home. One of the priests there taught sculpture to the local kids. As part of the training, we had to maintain a seated posture facing the teacher and the statue of Buddha for long periods of time. That was tough. I thought I might end up injuring myself. I once carved a statue of Buddha as I sat there. I went to visit my great-grandmother in hospital when she was ill and I took her a statue of Kannon [Goddess of Mercy] that I’d made when I started learning sculpture. She was very impressed. She used to pray to this statue. She kept it with her in her hospital room until the day she died. I’ve cherished it ever since. When I look back on this experience, I realize I wasn’t just making something. I was expressing my thoughts and feelings through art. That’s how I think about it now.
What we can learn from the Satoyama
Why did you choose “Satoyama” as the theme of this collection?
I live near a Satoyama area. When I was little, my mother often took me there to pick mountain herbs. Usually, I preferred doing things like drawing rather than being outside. But when we got to the mountains, I felt this energy inside and I was happy to spend time there, just caught up in the moment. I like going back there once in a while. Spending time there is precious to me.
Your Satoyama designs seem to tell a story. Bears are clearly important to you. Is there a particular message that you are looking to convey in the collection?
Yes. I like bears and I feel an affinity with them. I see them as a symbol of the relationship between humans and nature. Bears seem to be having more encounters with humans these days, leaving the seclusion of the mountains to venture into more populated areas. It’s something to think about in terms of the essence of the Satoyama, which is a boundary between humans and animals. But I wouldn’t want people who buy these T-shirts to get too worked up about this. There are problems, sure, but just as we live our lives, nature carries on in the mountains: small animals play with their siblings and their mothers dote on them, the plants grow and the flowers bloom. And there are also people who depend on the mountains for their livelihood. I hope this collection at least makes people stop and think about this. Even if they live far away from the Satoyama, I want people to feel a connection with nature beyond their windows, now and in the future.
Landscapes taken by Kamide.
You’ve also shown a talent for making promotional videos. How interested are you in music and video editing?
In terms of the animated bears, I felt that bears have been getting a bad rap recently. I wanted to show them in a good light. However, the scene of leaves rustling in the wind was harder to do than I expected. I had to do 11 drawings for each second of that shot. That took ages! (laughs) With the music, I got some help from a friend of mine, Shotaro Aoyama from NF. (NF is a creative planning and production house run by Ichiro Yamaguchi from Sakanaction.) I didn’t really have a clear idea of what I wanted, but he told me it was fun helping me express my thoughts visually. I loved the way he came up with some nice pieces of music for the bears, tailored to each video. As for the other animals, I came across a fox in the mountains a few years ago and I sometimes wonder what it’s up to now. The pheasant is a local bird that lives in the villages. I really like these three animals so that’s why I’ve drawn them.
What message are you trying to put across through your Kutani ware?
I’d like people to see Kutani pottery in a new way, myself included. With traditional crafts, if people stop practicing them, they just become a thing of the past. It’s important to carry on the Kutani ware tradition. But since we’re living in the present, I want to make it fresh and contemporary. Rather than just preserving the tradition, I’m taking inspiration from the past and reinventing it. In this collection, I’d like people to see the landscape as it is today, not just as a reference to the past. Regardless of whether it’s something traditional or from the distant past, I hope that this collection prompts people to reflect and find new meaning in their daily lives.
PROFILE
Keigo Kamide｜Kamide Shigei, LLC, Artist. Born in Ishikawa Prefecture in 1981. Kamide graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts in 2006, specializing in oil painting. He is the sucessor to Kamide CHoemon-gama, a Kutani ware pottery founded in 1879. He is a representative of Kamide Shigei. Kamide brings Kutani ware, rooted in the history of Oriental porcelain, into the present day with his flexible ideas, unconstrained by tradition or framework.
©KAMIDE SHIGEI
Gaku Imadera/HRPT Inc.
