“Maki-e Past & Present ”

In Nov. 2015, Master lacquerwork artist Mr. Junichi Hakose held an exhibition at the WAKO Ginza; the most prestigious department store in Japan.

Mr. Hakose had been preparing for this exhibition for five years, since he had exhibited total of 711 pieces of work, which is phenomenal!

This was also a memorial exhibition for Mr. Hakose, since he had become 60 years of age in 2015.  And also this was his second time exhibition at WAKO Ginza after 10 years since he had memorial exhibition at the age of 50.

The result of the exhibition was very successful. Having WAKO manager to say; “Even on weekdays, the customers are continuously flowing into this sixth floor all day. It is a very rare case, especially for this kind of lacquerware exhibition.”

The “Renge (蓮華)” spoon which he had made 100 pieces, each was unique,  for this exhibition were amazing best seller, which sold all the pieces in 3 days during the 10 days exhibition.

The Renge spoon is shown in the poster .

As one of the highlights in the exhibition, there was a new collection of small black saucers with maki-e called ”Sceneries of Tokyo”. It had 40 symbolic places of past and present Tokyo with Mr. Hakose’s unique point of view.  In its works, there was scenery of Ginza where the construction cranes  are working to build a building!  That was truly extraordinary and out of the box theme that no one had ever tried on a traditional gold and silver sprinkled maki-e lacquerware !

Mr. Hakose mentioned that he really put efforts with the finest techniques to express “the present” of Tokyo, hoping it resonates with the viewers heart to Tokyo, that may become “the past” in the future. He also add that he really enjoyed the creation and wishing from his heart that the customers would enjoy actually using them now.

Those challenges that Master Junichi Hakose has done shows how he is innovative in the Japanese lacquerwork art scene. Truly amazing and leaving that he is a true craftsman !

箱瀬先生、頑張れ！

－　蒔絵今昔　－　（挨拶文より）

「40年前蒔絵を習い始めた頃、目に入ってくるのは牡丹の花や鶴、そして松竹梅などの絵が多かったように思う。梅の花ひとつ何千回と描く僕の手は覚えていて、下描きのようなものがなくても描いていけるぐらいである。

それを昔と呼べば、今の自分はどうだう。また大げさかもしれないが、縄文人が無心そして多分楽しく土器に縄目模様をいれたように、自分も少しでもそれが出来ればと思っている。

ひとはそれぞれに違う今と昔を持っているように思う。　　箱瀬 淳一　」