My name is Manabe, and I am the head of the Production Department and manager of the Food Hub Project .
Recently, I went on a trip with Mr. Higashio, the owner of " Ochikochi, " a folk art and lifestyle store in Tokushima, and Mr. Shimazu, an architect from Sanagouchi Village, to visit pottery artists and folk art stores in Hyogo and Kyoto.
During the trip, Higashio-san said,
Even when making a single piece of pottery, there are two ways to make it: "from the outside" and "from the inside."
The end result is completely different when you "make it from within."
I was very impressed by what he said.
It seems to be a common saying in the world of folk art, but if you make something with materials from that place, it will naturally take on the character of that place. For example, Otani ware from Tokushima is made with soft clay, so it naturally takes on a plump shape. On the other hand, pottery that is made with the help of popular pottery overseas, and then glazed with a motif, is selling well in the world, with the traditions of that place as a superficial story. There are problems with people who buy such things made from outside, but I think that distributors like us have more responsibility.
At that time, I thought that this was certainly true when it came to craftsmanship, and that the vessels called Mingei themselves were made "from within" using handicrafts that were passed down through generations, whereas in recent years, I feel that there are many things that are made superficially "from the outside" by bringing overseas ideas and looks to Japan. (Don't forget that our word and idea of "Food Hub" was also brought over from overseas lol)
However, I began to wonder whether the Mingei movement itself was something that was created "from the outside."
I was a little negative about making tableware "from the outside," but what if we look at the Mingei movement itself from the perspective of making it from both the "outside" and the "inside"? Also, what about our activities in Kamiyama Town as a food hub? In light of these points, I would like to share my own thoughts.
By the way, I am not an expert on folk art, but I am writing this article as an activist who supports local producers of local food and agriculture. (However, I would be happy to answer any comments you may have.)
*The main visual is a photograph taken at the "Hinotani Kiln" studio of ceramic artist Goji Ueno in Higashikagawa City, Kagawa Prefecture.
Building from the outside, building from the inside:
Mingei Movement and Mingei Products
A folk art map of Shikoku is displayed at the entrance of Higashio's shop, Ochikochi.
Mingei is an abbreviation of "folk crafts," and the Mingei movement is a lifestyle and culture movement advocated by Muneyoshi Yanagi, Kanjiro Kawai, Shoji Hamada, and others in 1926 (Taisho 15). (From the Japan Mingei Association website )
From my perspective, I personally find it very interesting that in the Mingei movement, things made "from the outside" and "from within" complemented each other, and while it experienced the ups and downs of society known as the "Mingei Boom," it continues to influence modern-day lifestyles and culture.
The Mingei movement presented the idea that true beauty, or "beauty of utility," can be found in everyday items made by anonymous makers using local materials and in the context of everyday life. In contrast to the "ornamental" mainstream of the crafts world at the time, the Mingei movement looked at local items from an "outside" perspective and presented a new way of looking at beauty and a new set of values regarding beauty.
So, was the Mingei movement something that was created from "outside" or "inside"?
Kon Wajiro, a folklore researcher who initially kept his distance from the Mingei movement, left behind an interesting saying.
Kon Wajiro accompanied Yanagi on a visit to Tokyo with Kawai and Hamada (central figures in the Mingei movement) as part of a project to improve the lives of rural villages that had been devastated by the Great Showa Tohoku Famine in the 1930s. Kon Wajiro recalled that "Mingei people are only interested in aesthetic appreciation." On the other hand, he said, "We are interested in the lives of the local people and how to make a living."
Takashi Kurata, Takuji Hamada, and Yui Fushimi, "Exploring the 'comfort' of folk art" (Jutaku Kenchiku, No. 463, June 2017 issue) p. 75
It has also been pointed out that the Mingei movement was fraught with contradictions in its pursuit of beauty.
I understand that behind Mingei is an antithesis to the society and lifestyle of mass production and mass consumption that was brought about by modernism, which promoted rationalization and mechanization, but as Kon Wajiro points out, the Mingei movement itself was merely presenting the beauty of "handicrafts," which already existed in the region, as a new value system, as another option to the "ornamental" beauty of the craft world. It may be that this aesthetic value would not have been born without the world of appreciation.
However, I believe it was also an important act of "creating from the outside" by presenting a new perspective on existing values and creating a context that would give them their innate value.
So, what about "Mingei: Handicrafts" which is covered by the Mingei movement?
Regarding manufacturing, Muneyoshi Yanagi once said, "It is not the materials that create the shape, but the materials that create the shape."
In response to the question, "What is Japanese design?" Yanagi replied, "Japanese design? If it's made in a certain place, by a certain person, using a certain material, within the context of that person's life, then it will naturally become that way."
Takashi Kurata (ed.) Film Art Publishing (ed.), "Mingei no Lessons: Techniques of Cleverness," 168p
The everyday items that Yanagi and his colleagues discovered as "beauty of utility" - folk craft - are born from the nature and lifestyle of the land, and are made from "within." In other words, the word "mingei" and the movement itself were created from "within," but the "vessels" that are treated as folk craft can be said to be made from "within."
Similar to these words "uchi" and "soto," the word "fudo" is often used in the context of regional revitalization to talk about "people of the wind" and "people of the earth." Based on the above, my own definition of fudo is as follows:
・Wind Person :
A person who brings new ideas and ideals to the land and creates it from the "outside" (elements: wind, rain, light, etc.)
・Earth person :
A person who is rooted in the land, who grows it, inherits it, and creates it from within (elements: soil, seeds, etc.)
The key point here is "the creator."
The term "wind people" is idealized and often used to mean people who move around to different regions and are involved. Personally, I don't like the expression very much (some might point out that you're also a wind person), but I think that in the Mingei movement, Yanagi and his friends were both "wind people" and "creators."
Philosopher Takashi Kurata quotes Yanagi's words in his book Lessons in Mingei: Techniques of Clumsiness (Film Art Publishing, 2012).
"I want to strive to unite beauty and life. This must begin with myself, which is close at hand" (Muneyoshi Yanagi, "My Desire"). True to his own words, he did not simply collect antiques, but attempted to propose concrete lifestyles covering all aspects of life, including food, clothing and shelter.
The new perspectives and connections brought about by the "wind people" helped to discover the inherent value of the folk art made by the "earth people" (unknown craftsmen), and sometimes new things were created together with the wind people, which became a movement. In other words, I believe that the seeds that had been passed down for many years in that land, the "earth" that had been cultivated, and the wind blowing from outside, the rain falling, and the sunlight streaming in fostered a climate in which all sorts of things could thrive.
It is precisely because of this relationship that "people of the wind: those who create from the outside" and "people of the earth: those who create from within" are still involved in and discuss folk art, which continues to influence Japanese lifestyles and culture today.
Building from the outside, building from the inside:
Handicrafts and Product Design
We use Tobe ware, glassware by Japanese artists, glassware by foreign artists, and industrially produced glassware every day at home.
There is another possible reason why Mingei continues to have an influence today.
The folk art movement itself experienced a "mingei boom" from the late 1950s through to the 1970s. As a result, many "mingei-esque" items were produced, the word itself became outdated, the movement became more complicated, and it gradually faded from public attention.
I originally studied design at university, aspiring to be a product designer. Later, I gave up on being a designer (I had no sense for it...lol) and started working as an advertising producer, a job that involved working with designers. During that time, magazines like Casa BRUTUS ran features on Yanagi Sori, a product designer who was the son of Yanagi Soetsu, and I learned about the Mingei Movement from this new small boom.
I still have Casa BRUTUS vol.11, published in February 2001, on my bookshelf at home. In the article about visiting the Japan Folk Crafts Museum, I saw an article featuring Shinichiro Nakahara, the CEO of Landscape Products, who designed the restaurant "Kama-ya" for the Food Hub Project. I was amazed at how young he was.
In his book " Sori Yanagi Essays " (Heibonsha, 2011), Sori Yanagi wrote:
Handicrafts should pursue the beauty of the handmade, and product design should pursue the beauty of machine-made products . However, beauty is born from things related to human life , and the source of that beauty is the same as that of folk art.
Mingei can be said to be a regional or ethnic culture, but design is the culture of humanity .
He also wrote, in a similar way to his father, Muneyoshi:
If Japanese people create things sincerely on Japanese soil, using today's Japanese materials and techniques, for Japanese purposes, then Japanese forms will inevitably emerge. This is the attitude that will truly preserve the beauty of Japanese tradition.
In this age where mass-produced industrial goods are overflowing and we live in a world of price competition, we bridge the interpretation of Mingei with the idea of modern product design, proving that functional beauty exists even in industrial products.
I have been using kettles, frying pans, bowls, and other items designed by Sori Yanagi at home for many years.
In his book, Sori Yanagi introduces a number of industrial products that he considers to possess beauty in utility, but are there any recent industrial products that possess this same beauty in utility?
The advertising industry where I have worked is an industry that uses methods such as branding, marketing, and promotion to help manufacturers sell more products to more consumers. Within this industry, when developing products and thinking about how to sell them, there are two concepts: "market-in" and "product-out."
Market-in refers to using market research to create products that meet customer needs, or to sell products in a way that meets customer needs. Product-out refers to products that are created using a company's own unique technology, or to a sales method that is based on a company's own unique technology. In other words,
- Market-in: Creating from the outside
- Product Out: Creating from Within
I think we can say that.
In an age where we are saturated with material goods through mass production and mass consumption, these two concepts are no longer opposing each other. It seems to me that the two ways of thinking have become jumbled together like a spaghetti puzzle, resulting in the production of many poor products that lack practical beauty.
On the other hand, however, I believe there are also companies that swing between the two philosophies of "market-in" and "product-out," and "making from the outside in" and "making from within," in order to sincerely solve problems in daily life and social issues, and combine existing products with modern technology to create new products.
Have you heard of the toaster made by Balmuda?
The reason I am featuring this toaster here is that it was just sitting there in the kitchen of the cafe of Levain, a long-established natural yeast bakery (regardless of how it came into existence), and it has continued to be used.
This is not just something.
I'm curious to know how many of you who have read this far own this toaster (lol), but in an article titled " Until Balmuda's Bread is Toasted " in which Gen Terao, CEO of Balmuda, and Shigesato Itoi of Hobonichi magazine talk, Terao says, "The truth is, I think people aren't buying 'things' anymore."
Here's another interesting passage:
If you are spending money to buy a "great experience,"
We want to provide that.
So, an experience that uses all five senses,
In other words, I thought I had to get involved in eating.
After this, Itoi comments, "That's all connected too neatly (laughs)!", but I think this passage can be seen as the earlier reference to something that was created from the "outside," a market-in approach.
However, from reading this article (and I don't know if this is actually true), it seems that although they create and sell industrial products that utilize the latest technology, the origin of their ideas and the entire process of how their products are made and sold are all created from within, using down-to-earth methods reminiscent of Japanese handicrafts.
The products that are born from the inside are beautiful in appearance and function. They also tell a story that everyone can relate to, just like the conversation in "Hobonichi."
(I highly recommend you read the Hobonichi interview .)
In other words, even in times like these, or perhaps especially in times like these, when major Japanese home appliance manufacturers are being acquired by foreign companies, I believe it is possible to create handicraft-like product design by swinging back and forth between market-in and product-out approaches like a pendulum.
Emerging design ideas
Books that I encountered when I was young and that continue to influence me, books that I have been involved with through work, and books that have had a strong influence on me recently.
Let's summarize what we've discussed so far.
<About the Mingei Movement and Mingei>
It is because of the relationship between the people of the wind and the people of the earth, creating from the outside and creating from the inside, that so many people are able to continue to be involved with Mingei today, and as this relationship is maintained, it continues to influence many people today.
<About handicrafts and product design>
By swinging back and forth like a pendulum between the two approaches of market-in (creating from the outside) and product-out (creating from within), creating things from both the outside and the inside, it may be possible to create a handicraft-like design that seems to emerge.
Based on these two ideas,
Part 1:
Various magazines and other publications have been running special features on food, and the food boom that has been happening (as I believe) for the past few years has come to an end as just a fad, but is there potential for it to bring new value to Japanese food culture as a modern " lifestyle and cultural movement " based on food?
→ Thinking about food hubs as a "lifestyle and cultural movement"
Number 2:
The food industry is one of mass production and mass consumption, with prices driven down by globalization, and the high-end restaurant industry turns chefs into stars and awards them gastronomic stars. In the face of this polarized food situation, can local " everyday food " made by unknown artisans provide new options for many people?
→ Considering handicraft design to create "everyday food"
In my next post, I would like to consider "emergent design" from these two perspectives, while examining the "Food Hub Project" that we started in Kamiyama Town.
(to be continued)
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