The Report on the preliminary and the Final Assessments

Ohnishi : Next Mr.Mae, please make your comments.

Mae : I have been involved in the field of traditional arts and crafts for a long time on the theme of “Function and Beauty”. I have exhibited my works at the Japan Traditional Arts and Crafts Exhibition on the same theme. In other works, I have tried to create something to fit today’s lifestyle with traditional techniques. I do not repeat the old techniques but I try to digest conventional works including their historical background, to consider how to make the most of Urushi material and to create something which holds both function and beauty.
I was amazed to see such a variety of works at this competition. The Grand Prize winner has a beautiful form. The artist got the idea from volcanic glass which is shinny and beautiful, I guess. This object can be a platter. Today quite of few artists make design on computer. Some of the designs output from the computer are truly beautiful, but it is very difficult to make such a three dimensional work out of the computerized design. For example, the chrysanthemum pattern can be drawn on the computer easily but it is very difficult to create a real work with Urushi out of the design on the computer. The Grand Prize winner is excellent because it reflects brightness and darkness of light. I like the curves of its bottom. When it is upside down, it still looks beautiful as an object.
I would like to talk about the Gold Prize winner, the vermilion baby bathtub. In my childhood, my grandmother often told me that rice cakes would last long in the Urushi tiered box. Today it has been proved that Urushi is antibacterial. Prof. Ohnishi said the baby’s first bath in this vermillion bathtub is good for its skin. The flowers arranged in the Urushi vase last long. This work can be an object which gives us the artist’s warm feeling.
The Advanced Design Prize winner includes hats and bags other than coats. As Dr. Kopplin said, they cannot be sold as products on the market because the texture is coarse and their washing needs special care. I think that the surface of the denim material is coated with Urushi mixed with some softening materials. One of the development or improvement of this work can be the way in which the yarn or thread is coated with Urushi and knitted or woven into cloth. This award was established for the first time for this competition.
I recommended this work for the award.

Ekuan : One of the most difficult points of the Final Assessment is that the new award, the Advanced Design Prize was established for the competition. I am sure that you are very much interested in this award and that the Design Center Ishikawa had difficulty in establishing this new award. I am afraid that Urushi products have not sold well these days and that Urushi artists and artisans cannot get the consumers’ reputation and lose their jobs. If so, you have to prevent them from disappearing out of the Urushi field. This phenomenon has much to do with your profession. If Urushi itself disappears out of Japan, thousands of people or tens of thousands of people may lose their jobs. That is why this award has the term “product” in Japanese.
For example, at the oil painting competitions, or sculpture competitions, such as the Inten or the Nitten, what kind of work can win the award with the term product? Unlike oil paintings or sculptures, Urushi has come to be very closer to our everyday life based on its tradition and master pieces. In these days, however, fewer and fewer Urushi products have been purchased. So one of the purposes of this International Urushi Competition is finding some new ways of admiring Urushi works.
In other words, it is just like developing your spirit. While developing your spirit and finding your better inner self, you can build up your own philosophy of life. At the same time, finding some shapes is also important.
The very basic of making products is whether or not you can discover a new field by considering the balance between sight and feeling. Therefore, when you find a new discovery in a certain product, you will purchase it. Its price is not so important. If you like the product, you will buy it no matter how expensive it is. On the other hand, if you do not like the product, you will not purchase the product how much money you have. This can also be applied to Urushi products because it is natural for purchasers.
The Grand Prize winner is very simple and sharp. Our spirit needs something sharp. We do not like anything fuzzy. Both its wooden base and black Urushi coating are excellent.
Sometimes I come across the work whose wooden base is not good enough to go with its Urushi coating. This work makes me feel refreshed and my everyday life refreshing. I was moved with the artist’s efforts. He worked out with Urushi by polishing and considering the balance between light and highlight. As Mr.Mae mentioned, this work is well completed even on the bottom. Polishing needs perseverance and matured character. From the perspective of “Function and Beauty “, it looks like a platter but at the same time it expresses strong passion. I think this point excellent. Because polishing needs patience, Urushi artists need to develop their perseverance.
About the Gold Prize winner, its shape might come from the shape of a body which is naturally interesting. Urushi has medicinal efficacy to kill germs, but more important about this item is its shape. You have many ways of discovering shapes in nature; part of a leaf or sprouts or insects. Then you coat the shapes with Urushi and you will create something interesting, which can be called development.
Whenever you come across a new shape, you must not jump to the conclusion that this baby bath is good for health. I think the shape looks like that of a sword bean. It is a very interesting shape in nature. This shape might come from an enlarged sword bean. When you develop new products, you have to find new design and new shapes and give the purchasers comfortable feeling. This comfortable feeling means that the product goes with other utensils when it is displayed at home and that it creates better and newer space. This can be clues and hints for new product development. So the new award must be given to such a product.
As the apparel industry or the fashion industry has been rather conventional, it is extremely difficult to make it newer and more unconventional. From this perspective, this award winner has a new sense of sight and feeling. It could be experimental but it can also be development. In this case, product development means discovering something new out of what did not exist before.
If the new things you have discovered are accepted by the users in their sight, touch, taste and smell, you should be satis- fied. Especially the fashion industry in Japan has been highly evaluated. For example, Issei Miyake has created a new fabric by making great efforts. Those who have no idea about Urushi might be astonished to hear about this Urushi Jacket. Dr. Kopplin said that the jacket is a little too coarse, but in the past, people were wearing leaves and something coated with Urushi. If Urushi is properly used for fibers and you get Urushi cloth just like denim, it will be interesting because the more you use, the more comfortable it will become.
On the other hand, outfits could make the person wearing them feel tense. That was Samurai tradition. In the Samurai drama “Atsuhime” the main character becomes dignified by wearing Uchikake, the official gown. This is part of the Japanese culture. The clothes or kimono you are wearing have spiritual influence on the person. I think this awarded work has such spiritual influence. Unlike the Advanced Design Prize winner, all the jury members voted for the Grand Prize winner maybe because it appeals to your soul and spirit.
I will leave one difficult problem to the Design Center Ishikawa. That is what to do with the product development in the Urushi related industries for the next year. If you would like to export this Urushi jacket, you must explain why this is a new product.
I think new product development has limitless possibilities including discovering shapes, spiritual background, colors and five senses.

Komatsu : This International Urushi Competition started about twenty years ago. This time we celebrate its 8th competition. Recently the competition is held every three years.
The recent competitions have collected the works applied from various nations and regions, each of which expresses new possibilities or challenges in the field of Urushi. The baby bath is a new trial with its flexible sensibility. Regarding The Grand Prize winner, the artist concentrated his mind particularly in coating among Urushi techniques including polishing, engraving and applying other materials. Black Urushi is the basics of Urushi and the result of black Urushi coating makes this such a perfect work. This can be an object but the same time can be a platter as a new proposal. While I was looking at this work, I wondered what kind of food will go with this platter or whether or not the food on this platter is appetizing. This work has something sharp but at the same time something soft depending on light. Both the Grand Prize winner and Gold Prize winner hold the true meaning of Urushi, which is the main purpose of this competition; “What can be considered in the Urushi art?” “What can be talked about?”
Sometimes I am asked what kind of work should be applied to the International Urushi Exhibition. I think if you make the most of Urushi in your everyday life, it is enough. Of course, the field of Urushi coating has preserved and handed down traditional techniques. I hope Urushi will spread in the world today. This International Ueushi Exhibition has been held in Ishikawa where Kaga Makie, Wajima lacquer ware and Yamanaka lacquer ware have been developed. In these three places, Kanazawa, Wajima and Yamanaka artists and artisans have made Urushi works and have lived on Urushi. They have enjoyed their everyday life by talking about Urushi.
In Kanazawa during the feudal era, there was a studio named “Osaikujo” where armor and helmets were manufactured first and later traditional arts and craft were manufactured as the society became more peaceful. The artisans working at the studio included Samurai and craftsmen. From various areas, skillful workmen were invited to Kanazawa and they trained the local workmen. Those workmen and craftsmen developed arts and crafts. They were also the members of Noh play of the Houshou School. When the feudal load performed a Noh play, those members accompanied him by playing bamboo flutes and drums.
Those groups of craftsmen had various meetings in town. There were many rituals in Kanazawa. At the ritual, they held a feast where Urushi bowls were used. Based on such historical background, this International Urushi Competition has developed so that Urushi can be understood throughout the world. Through the international exchanges, stimulating ideas have come out and they have helped promote Urushi today.
This time the competition collected more application from abroad than at home, which indicates that more Urushi table ware has been used and admired in the world. The fact that this International Urushi Competition has been held in Kanazawa, Ishikawa is truly significant.
I would like to talk about The Advanced Design Prize. This work is an example of challenging for the organic parts of Urushi; in the field of fashion and mode as Dr, Kopplin mentioned, it is heavy and coarse when you put it on, but I think it interesting as the first trial in function development. Such challenge by widely interpreting conventional function and beauty in the field of arts and craft is one of the objectives of the International Urushi Competition.
This time the Grand Prize, the Gold Prize, and the Advanced Design Prize are given to high level works, and especially the Advanced Design Prize winner shows their challenging spirit. I am satisfied and I appreciate those three works.