Out of the Spotlight and into the Woodwork

26 Feb 2008 Category: Craftwork, Design, Japan, Tradition

Ayumi Iwamoto gave up her busy life in Tokyo and went back to her hometown of Kanazawa to carry on the family business with her partner, Kensuke Uchida. The two of them brought the Iwamoto family’s traditional kiri (also known as paulownia wood) handicraft business back from the brink of closing down and added their own sense of style and energy to the old-fashioned company. Of course it’s never as simple as all that…

Interviewed by Takafumi Suzuki
Translation by Claire Tanaka
Special thanks to Hiroko Torigoe

How did you wind up in this line of work?

Iwamoto: I was living in Tokyo and working for a publishing company, and my boyfriend was working for a visual production company. My father had started talking about packing in the family business, and I thought, “What a waste to give up now after being in business for so long (since 1913).” So I held an emergency meeting in Tokyo with my partner and my little brother. We didn’t know anything about working with kiri, but we talked about how to promote the products and how to get younger people interested in them, and other ideas about how to keep the business going.

So, you had a certain attachment to the family woodcrafting business.

Iwamoto: Naw (laughs). Actually, at first, I didn’t even know what my own family was making. Traditional chests made of kiri are a very common use for the wood, so when people asked me what my family made, I told them “They’re making chests of drawers.” even though it turns out they’re not (laughs). But, if there is one thing I’ve learned from the publishing industry, it’s how to make a book, promote it, and get people to buy it without using a lot of money. I figured I could transfer that knowledge to the running of the family business.

It’s unusual that you would all come together so smoothly for this.

Uchida: I went along with Ishimoto to Kanazawa and I had no hesitations at all about helping with her family’s business (laughs). I had been working really hard at my job in Tokyo and I was tired out. I was more than happy to tag along.

Iwamoto: My father’s thoughts were not so much “You and your brother don’t need to continue the family business” as “You really shouldn’t continue the business” (laughs). It was my brother and Uchida and I who decided on our own that we wanted to do it. (Her brother is currently studying woodturning techniques and will be joining the project as soon as his training is complete.) My father never said “You can’t do it”, though. When I think about it now, the only reason we were able to be so decisive about coming here was because we didn’t know what we were getting into.

What did you do first when you came back to Kanazawa?

Uchida: First, we shut down the shop, painted the walls ourselves, tidied up the glass cases, and made the shop a more welcoming place for people to visit. Then we went to work on getting rid of the build-up of stock.

Iwamoto: Even so, the shopping arcade itself has really gone into decline, and people don’t pass by the shop so much, so we took the stock to department stores which were holding local product fairs. We wanted to get rid of all the old stuff and start over from scratch. But it’s hard to just suddenly make something new so we decided to try and focus on things that will sell, and things that young people would want to use. We figured we could let natural selection take care of the rest.

So, did you learn anything by going out to the local product fairs?

Iwamoto: Kiri wood products aren’t particularly flashy or trendy, and honestly, we weren’t sure what kinds of people were even interested in these kinds of things (laughs). By taking our products and putting them out there, we were able to see what caused a reaction in people, and what aspect of the product people were interested in. They said things like “Kanazawa is well-known for this kind of gold lacquer, isn’t it!” and we heard that and realized we hadn’t properly understood the appeal of the gold lacquer, and over time we grew to appreciate the appeal of the craft.

Did the two of you design the modern-looking gold lacquer pieces in your line-up?

Uchida: I wouldn’t go so far as to call it design. We just changed things by asking the artisans to alter the old designs a bit at a time. For example, we’d suggest putting two little rabbits, or using a different method for doing the plover’s legs. But there is such a gap in age between us and the lacquer artisans and often they didn’t catch the nuance of what we were saying and we had quite a few “blooper” moments.

Iwamoto: So we decided words weren’t enough and we drew pictures and said “Please make it this colour!” But then we looked at it when it was done and there was some other colour added. “It still looked like it needed a little something,” they said (laughs).

So, are the two of you involved in the actual production work at all?

Iwamoto: Not me. At first, I was interested in trying it, but doing the same thing over and over, and doing fine detailed work, it’s just not my style. But Uchida seems to be suited to that kind of stuff, so I leave the production work up to him.

Uchida: Iwamoto can’t stand doing repetitive tasks. But she’s good at making connections between people and going out and making things happen, so she’s in charge of all the work outside of actually making things.

Did you learn the trade from Iwamoto’s father?

Uchida: Yes. Her father is a really kind, gentle guy. But when it came to teaching me the details, he’d say, “This part is kind of tricky. Just try it and see how it goes.” And I’d be thinking “What does he mean, tricky??” But I’d try it for myself and understand what he meant. It really is hard to explain these things with words.

Does your father have anything to say about the two of you coming back and shaking everything up?

Iwamoto: He’s always in his workshop and he never goes out, so he knows he’s getting set in his ways. He’s particularly stubborn when it comes to new things.

Uchida: But on the other hand, I think he has quite an open-minded side to him as well. For example, I’ll tell him we don’t want to put a luster on the wood, and he’ll oppose my suggestion and say “What? It looks better with a glossy finish.” But then he’ll do what I ask in the end, saying “Maybe I’m being old-fashioned, thinking it looks better glossy.”

Are there a lot of times when you find there is a difference between the generations when it comes to aesthetic sense?

Iwamoto: We want to make products that we ourselves would like to use, and often they end up being quite simple-looking, but the older artisans perceive that look as being too plain. We like the natural imperfections that occur in the wood, but they feel that the imperfections are just that, imperfections.

Uchida: For example, with the wood grain, in the old days they’d fill in a knot, and then cover it with a lacquer design, but I like to leave that kind of thing as it is, as a feature of its own. Also, out here in the country most people use tatami in their homes, but I’m not so good at kneeling on the floor, so I came up with our hit product, the Ashinaisu legless stool.

I hope your new interpretations of kiri wood craft helps to turn more people on to the craft.

Iwamoto: There was a time when hibachi braziers made of kiri wood were a really popular item. That was long before I was born, mind you (laughs). But those little braziers are gentle on the environment, they’ll boil water for tea, and if you want to grill a little something, the smell of the charcoal gets in there and adds a nice flavour. So I think it’s time for people to re-think the hibachi. Also, I think we’ve got to expand beyond merely producing products. We’ve got to get out there and educate people about kiri woodcraft.

Uchida: When we are outgoing and explain about the product to people at local product fairs, some people actually become our fans. After they’ve bought something, they’ll come back and give us some bread or something. That happened once, and after we got home we wrote a letter saying “Thanks for the bread” and the next year when we went back to the same place to sell our goods again, the same person came with a ton of bread for us (laughs).

Iwamoto Kiyoshi Shouten
Hyoutan-machi 3-2, Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture

Kensuke Uchida & Ayumi Iwamoto
Born in Chigasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, 1973. Kiri Wood Artisan
Born in Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture, 1975. Planning and Advertising for Kiri Wood Products

12 Comments

1. that was one large leap of faith. to sacrifice a job for something that you don’t even have any idea with. wow!

   I really liked this interview. thank you for sharing.

   Posted by: Ruff on February 28th, 2008 at 10:56 pm

2. I is a very inspiring story - thank you for running it.

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3. Agreed to the above. It is a good example of why traditional crafts need not to be closed down.

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