The fusion of metal and glassWe saw many types of traditional ”kogei” in our travels, but this was our first encounter with cloisonné work. Cloisonné work is a craft made by baking a glassy glaze onto a silver or copper base. By baking the glaze, the glaze melts and shows colorful expressions. Cloisonné work is classified by whether the work has a base plate or wires, the transparency or the non-transparency of the glaze, etc. The technique originated in the middle east and transmitted to China through the silk road, and then reached Japan. One of the famous examples in Japan is the “Ruridenhai-no-juuni-ryoukyo” in Shoso in Nara. They were produced in quantity in the Meiji era, and many were exported overseas. |
Meticulous work is the source of beauty.What caught our eye at the workshop Nakata visited, was a small electric oven. |
The shine of the glazeThe next task is placing the glaze. Nakata looked at her work and commented “All these colors come from the glaze, right? It’s amazing how you can paint them without the colors getting mixed. “To which Furuse answered as she showed Nakata the glaze, “It’s more like “placing” the colors instead of “painting them”. People mistakenly think that the glaze is liquid, but upon close observation, you can tell the particles are still there as particles, and so when using the glaze in cloisonné, it is, in fact, closer to use the expression “placing”. |
ACCESS
- Shizuko Furuse, Craftsperson
- Yamagata, Yamagata Prefecture