Kenji Ekuan

The most difficult part of the Final Assessment this time is selecting the Advanced Design Prize winner. The prize is for promoting product development. I was startled to come across the term “product” because I had never considered Urushi ware as products.
Japanese people have had trouble in considering elegant and noblelady- like Urushi ware as products perhaps because they have worked hard to manufacture industrial products and sell them to foreign countries for many years since the end of World War II. I wonder if they have pursued the so-called virginity in Urushi ware among numerous other arts and crafts items.
It is true that Urushi ware producing regions will be declining unless they make Urushi products which the consumers would like to buy.
For me, however, making artistic items into products is as if losing their virginity. I was in a fix. Luckily this prize winner is an item which makes me realize the new type of virginity of Urushi. If someone asks me if the item can be a product on the market, I cannot answer “Yes”, but it truly has novelty. For me the value of some products means novelty itself. This item has the harmony between the fabric and Urushi.
It broadens your soul. You have not had such a thing before. The producer has deepened the origin of Urushi. Then you can discover something like a noble lady. In Japan Urushi has been the basic of daily utensils, while in Europe they have used Urushi as materials for creating objects in various bold ways. It surprised me. They consider Urushi as one of the pigments, which does not agree with me, though.
It is, however, stimulating for me that they use Urushi freely in Europe without any conventional frameworks. Urushi in Japan meets with Urushi in the West. It is truly a goal of the international competition.

Nagatoshi Ohnishi

I have hoped that this exhibition should provide opportunity to focus on the future feature and new possibility of Urushi from the global perspective. This time I felt that my dream has nearly come true.
Fortunately such good examples received awards. The Grand Prize winner “Stone Implement Bowl” by Takeshi Igawa is a sharp and straight item with its perfect form and skillful coating. I really admire his attitude to pursue the beauty of black Usushi which is the basic of Urushi. The Gold Prize winner “female – a bathtub or bed for baby – “, a Kanshitsu item, has an organic and gentle form and its vermillion Urushi is perfect for celebrating the birth of life. The silver Prize winner “Dream” by Young Sun Ra (Korea ) is a reticent vessel.
I was deeply impressed to hear Dr Kopplin expressing herself on this work “quiet and strong”.
The artist knit the yarn and made the form and applied Urushi to harden it. It is extremely durable. Something authentic never dies out. One of the Honorable Mention winners “RELIGLO – RE – BOUND TO THE SOURCE” by Manfred Schmid (Germany) harbors spirituality and it keeps power to touch your original emotion.
The artist does not show off his skills and the vessel expresses something innocent.
On the Advanced Design Prize winner “Urushi clothes” by Mikio Shina, all the jury members exchanged active and sometimes heated discussion. The fabric has something quiet and unique.
I hope that this product will be improved and sold on the market.
First you must solve the problem of the coarse texture of the fabric and Urushi. Koshu Inden has been one of the successful examples of such improvement in Japan.

Ryoichi Komatsu

The Ishikawa International Urushi Exhibition which started in 1989 for promoting understanding of the charm of Urushi throughout the world has celebrated its 8th exhibition in 2009.
This time the new prize The Advanced Design Prize, was established for stimulating product development as well as the utilization of the local technology. After the active discussion among the jury members this prize winner was finally selected.
The Grand Prize winner “Stone Implement Bowl” is a trayshaped object with the image of a sharply cut stone piece.
It expresses spiritual time and space with deep black Urushi and the luster of the surface. This work is highly accomplished.
The Gold Prize winner “Baby Bath” holds gently curving form coated with vermilion Urushi, which reminds you of the baby’s soft skin. It is one of the pleasant proposals for our lifestyle. It also introduces you the efficacy of Urushi.
The Advanced Design Prize winner is a Urushi applied jacket which needs some improvement so that the texture of the fabric can be more comfortable for the body.
Urushi has drawn the public attention as an eco-friendly material.
It harbors particular beauty and power, as well. How are you going to grasp the true value of Urushi? I look forward to the answers to this question at the next competition.

Kwon Sang-Oh

It is a distinct honor to be invited as a jury member of the Final Assessment Panel for the Ishikawa International Urushi Exhibition 2009 following the previous exhibition.
We found many items which express new proposals of lifestyle, function development and new sensibility.
This time more contemporary works were applied than those of the previous exhibition. As a whole, design has become more sophisticated but I am sorry that the two dimensional works are not so excellent than three dimensional items.
All the jury members agreed to give the Grand Prize to the simple, black work. It holds both function and beauty. Its simple form and the artist’s Urushi coating techniques are truly admirable.
The Advanced Design Prize winner is a good example of a new proposal for product development. The item still needs some improvement; when the cloth or fabric is applied with Urushi, you can soften it with some chemical treatment.
I hope the exhibition will help promote international exchanges in Urushi and activate Urushi related industries, so that the value of Urushi will be admired in your daily life.

Fumio Mae

The field of arts and crafts has produced functional utensils as well as better, more beautiful and more sophisticated items for ages.
Those items have reflected the lifestyle of the people of each era.
I have created my art works in the field of Japanese traditional arts and crafts where we have tried to preserve and improve conventional craft techniques.
In short, I have created the item with both function and beauty. For the second time I participated in the Final Assessment by holding my own philosophy of creation. The applied works from home and abroad to this competition vary from truly artistic items to the items close to the utensils for our everyday life. I have been impressed with the broad range of their forms, designs and decorations.
The Grand Prize winner “Stone Implement Bowl” is an excellent work with a sharp form coated with black Urushi. It has an image of a sharply cut piece of a stone.
The Gold Prize winner “female ~a bathtub or bed for baby~” expresses something heartwarming and some story like a fairy tale.
I am impressed with its gentle shape and the beauty of vermilion Urushi. Urushi has power to kill germs, we have believed for a long time.
The newly established prize “The Advanced Design Prize” targets product development. It is very difficult to distinguish art works from market products, but the prize winner is a good example of new fabric development and Urushi application. It maintains texture and beauty of Urushi.
I have assessed all the works with great care and interest.

Monika Kopplin

My first participation in the Final Assessment at the International Urushi Exhibition was not only enriching and inspiring, it also made me aware of this event’s signifi- cance for contemporary lacquer art. Those responsible in the Ishikawa Prefecture deserve great respect for their efforts in securing a future for lacquer work.
Though Japanese and Korean entrants predominate, submissions from ten other nations and regions demonstrate that lacquer is standing its ground as a material for international craftwork and design. Most candidates work with Urushi or Rhus lacquer from East or South-East Asian sources. France, pioneer of an independent European lacquer art breaking away from East Asian models in the 18th century, is the only country where some artists still use oil-based lacquers to produce innovative and surprising artistic creations. The continuation of this tradition, which has been lost in all other western countries, seems particularly important to me as a European. Only two artists still work with lacquer in Germany, where outstanding baroque lacquer workshops were distinguished by their cultural empathy with East-Asian aesthetics. These two employ Urushi and in turn manifest their debt to Japanese lacquer in style and technique.
The wide variety of exhibited artworks includes traditional techniques and functions, as well as startlingly experimental and sometimes playful pieces. Some works, including the one by Igawa Takeshi which was awarded the grand prize, possess a spiritual quality. The gold and silver prize-winners combine a traditional function – a tub for bathing a newborn baby and a washbasin – with clear, timeless design that highlights the lacquer’s inherently tranquil beauty. The not yet fully matured but promising impregnation of fabrics with Urushi, and some very idiosyncratic sculptures, indicate the technological and artistic potential of contemporary lacquer.

Shinichi Yamamura

Some 200 applied works at the Ishikawa International Urushi Exhibition 2009 vary from tiny jewelries which can be hold on your palm to a large scale monument which is as large as the size limit.
The Preliminary and Final Assessments were conducted and after the heated discussion The Grand Prize, Gold Prize, Silver Prizes, Honorary Mentions, and Jurors’ Special Prizes as well as the Advanced Design Prize winners were selected.
Urushi is called “japan” and it represents Japanese traditional arts and crafts. Further more, in Ishikawa are major Urushi ware producing regions, Wajima and Yamanaka. So holding this international Urushi competition in Kanazawa, Ishikawa is truly significant.
Today, however, the situation of each traditional arts and crafts producing region in Japan has faced difficulties in continuing their businesses. So establishing the new prize for promoting product development can be considered as the organizer’s strong message to support Urushi industries throughout the world.
I hope that this exhibition will help activate Urushi ware producing regions in Ishikawa as well as in Japan.

Toyojiro Hida

I participated only in the Preliminary Assessment based on slides. So I cannot talk about the real works. While looking at the trends of the applied works, I got the impression that the applicants had been startled. I wonder if the applicants could understand what kind of artworks or products this exhibition has asked for. I am afraid that they have not yet grasped this particular point. I found several categories of items at the Assessment; traditional arts and crafts, objects, industrial products, crafts, and daily utensils.
The quality of each applied work is quite high, but I am sorry to say that none of them has pursued its extreme best. Many of them hold compromise of various trends. If you would like to enjoy traditional Urushi ware, you would rather visit the Japan Traditional Arts and Crafts Exhibition.
Those who are judged are not the applicants but the organizer of this Ishikawa International Urushi Exhibition, are they?
The applicants have tried applying their multi trend items and tried to understand the purpose of the organizer.
The organizer established the new prize, the Advanced Design Prize to make the purpose of the exhibition clearer.
Further more they should clearly explain the direction of this exhibition to the applicants and to the people who have supported this exhibition. I would like to express my selfreproach as well.