Founded in 1879 in Ishikawa, Japan, Kutani Choemon have been creating handmade and hand-painted pottery for 130 years. Their subject though, is quite contemporary: skateboarders, surfers, and drummers rendered in blue Kutani colour glazes adorn a wide variety of traditional tableware and tea ceremony utensils.
“KUTANI CHOEMON” was founded in 1879 in Ishikawa, Japan. They have been making tableware and tea ceremony utensils for over 130 years in an integrated system of production from raw material to finished products. Although they are small on a business scale, every piece of work is carefully handmade and hand-painted by experienced craftsmen. Their products feature rich blue and white colors and traditional Kutani color glazes.
Kentaro Kamide(1930-), the fourth heir of KUTANI CHOEMON made a great contribution to society and culture through his work activities, and received two awards from the emperor. In continuing to make traditional Kutani pottery, they have also poured their efforts in making customized products. In 2007 in collaboration with the Sportlifestyle brand PUMA, they made “PUMA 8-Speed Urban Mobility Bikes” decorated with Kutani pottery, produced by MARUWAKA-YA. Since then, they have been seeking new possibilities for Kutani pottery, and are exhibiting their products at museums, contemporary art galleries and design fairs. The “SCULL, Candy Jar” which they made together with MARUWAKA-YA in 2010 was exhibited at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo and later put into the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art Kanazawa as part of their collection. In 2010, the KUTANI CONNEXION exhibition organized by SPIRAL (Tokyo), the novel Kutani world full of free imagination and humor was exhibited under the direction of the sixth heir Keigo Kamide(1981-). In the same year in DESIGNTIDE TOKYO 2010, a new Kutani pottery “JAIME HAYON x KUTANI CHOEMON produced by MARUWAKA-YA” was released in collaboration with the Spanish designer Jaime Hayón under the direction of the fifth heir Masahiko Kamide(1951-), who is the current president of KUTANI CHOEMON.
