Kibori brooch - 山形のいいものを世界へ！やまがたの工芸品・生活製品ポータルサイト

Company overview

Company Name

Kibori brooch
Type of industry

Manufacturing of wood carving arts
Main products

Wood carving arts
Post code

990-2453
Company address

(Butsudan Otsuki) 2-28 2-chome Wakamiya Yamagata Yamagata Japan
Representative

Kazue ASHINO
Person in charge

Kazue ASHINO
T E L

+81-(0)23-646-6360
Main selling channels

tuad store、0035gather
Available language

Japanese

EPISODE OF FAUNDATION / FOUNDER'S THOUGHT

After studying at Tohoku University of Art and Design and pursuing other careers, Kazue Ashino joined Otsuki, a maker of butsudan (household Buddhist altars), one of the traditional crafts for which Yamagata is known. She began producing wood sculpture in styles traditional to Yamagata butsudan for the firm in March 2008 after receiving the go-ahead by the company president.
Her Kibori range of brooches were first made in 2015, when her company entered the Yamagata Excellent Design competition with works Ashino produced in partnership with a member of Yamagata Mirai no Takumi-kai, a group of younger artisans working to preserve Yamagata City's traditional crafts. Although the entry did not win a prize, her company was designated as an incentive company and offered a place in a product development and marketing course run by Yamagata Research Institute of Technology in 2016, which led to the brooches being developed as products. The brooches were publicly unveiled in November 2016 at the IFFT Interior Lifestyle Living exhibit held at Tokyo Big Sight. They were selected for the Yamagata Excellent Design Award in 2017, and received a commendation at the 2018 Wood Design Award. Her new series, Kissho, is the outcome of further training at the Yamagata Research Institute of Technology. It was unveiled at the 2018 IFFT Interior Lifestyle Living exhibition.

CRAFTMAN'S THOUGHT, COMMITMENT / RELATIONSHIP WITH THE COMMUNITY

As a Yamagata butsudan sculptor, Ashino's work centers on producing sculptures for Yamagata butsudan, as well as re-varnishing, repairing, and cleaning butsudan. While butsudan sculptures are produced for butsudan manufacturers, producing the Kibori brooches has given her the chance to communicate directly with private customers. She looks forward to using such interactions to promote Yamagata butsudan and raise its status as a nationally-designated traditional craft, a fact that is not yet widely known even in Yamagata. Participated in the "Craftsman-Student Exchange Program" organized by Product Design Department of Tohoku University of Art & Design and the Yamagata city's traditional craftsmen Yamagata City, and presented new works such as the Yamagata Choju-giga (Scrolls of Frolicking Animals) Collection.