Sawa Matsuda

February 2, 2021 12:03 AM \

Sawa Matsuda is a handicraft artist who encountered the technique of “macrame lace” that creates shapes and patterns by tying threads together.  She felt the potential of macrame using fine threads and created a line of attractive accessories that incorporate various knots using natural colored threads such as ecru and beige. She has been working on macrame lace since 2010 and her work has been featured at art exhibitions and events in galleries and shops.  She has also published two books, “Macrame Lace Accessories” and “Macrame Accessories and Bags”.

More of her work can be viewed on her blog and Instagram.  Her shop can be found here in Iichi.

Images:  Courtesy of Sawa Matsuda.

Posted in: Japan, Jewelry, Macrame \ Tagged: , ,

Sakai Mika

February 1, 2021 12:03 AM \

Sakai Mika is a Japanese ceramic artist, practicing the ancient Japanese technique of Nerikomi.  It is a style of pottery in which the clay is tinted, layered in precise ways, and sliced to form a slab which is pressed into or onto a mold.  The work’s color and decoration are created by the patterned clay rather than by a glaze or surface technique.The completed pottery will have the same pattern on its exterior and its interior.

The artist began her career in the Arts by studying fashion in Tokyo.  After she graduated she took her first ceramics course then went on to apprentice for two years under one of Japan’s foremost practitioners of Nerikomi.  She has since become one of the best Nerikomi potters in Japan. 

More of her work can be found on her blog, Facebook and Instagram.

Images:  Courtesy of Sakai Mika.

Posted in: Ceramics, Japan, Pottery \ Tagged: , ,

Shiro Kasamatsu (1898 – 1991)

January 29, 2021 12:04 AM \

Born in the Asakusa section of Tokyo to a middle class family, Shiro Kasamatsu started his art studies at a young age. In 1911 he studied Japanese style painting under Kaburagi Kiyokatahe.  He is one of the most highly respected of the Shin Hanga artists.  His designs were mainly of landscapes, but also included bijin-ga (female beauty), interiors, and Noh masks (one of his particular interests).  He worked with two publishers before going independent carving and printing his own designs in limited, numbered editions.  

Shirō produced about 290 prints during his life.

Images:  Courtesy of various sources.

Posted in: Japan, Printmaking \ Tagged: ,
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