Maki-e Gold Decoration
The Quiet Beauty of a Timeless Craft
Maki-e is a traditional Japanese artisanal craft technique with centuries of history. Designs are embedded into lacquered surfaces by sprinkling them with gold or silver powder, for beauty that lasts and deepens over time.
Today, this artistic tradition continues to evolve through contemporary artists such as Miyuki Kinoshita. Rather than faithfully reproducing nature as it appears in real life, she studiously observes the rhythms and structures hidden within wind, waves, rain, and light, then translates these into her own geometric visual language.
Through this workshop, guests discover both how tradition is faithfully preserved and how form is creatively reimagined, to see how this ancient artisanal craft continues to evolve into the future.
What is Maki-e?
Maki-e is a decorative lacquer technique passed down by Japanese artisans for a thousand years: gold or silver powder are carefully sprinkled onto lacquer in order to embed them into the surface, which is then carefully polished down to reveal the finished image.
Back before Ishikawa was Ishikawa, this technique established deep roots in the Kaga Domain, the wealthiest domain in Japan short of the shogunate government itself. The Kaga Domain focused its resources on promoting culture and artisanal crafts, and maki-e was among these. The Zen-Buddhism-influenced aesthetics of the era prized understatement over showiness, and the tastefully subdued maki-e caught on a way to subtly flaunt one’s money and taste.
Meet the Artist: Miyuki Kinoshita
As a lacquer artist, Kinoshita has developed her own distinctive artistic style, and creates works incorporating techniques such as raden (mother-of-pearl inlay) and maki-e. She has received awards at several national craft competitions.
Selected Works
Details
Location
At our studio, “unveil”, located close to the Higashi Chaya Tea District
Workshop Length
2 hours
Fee
Starting at ￥41,800 for chopsticks / ￥42,800 for bowls for a group of two
(Extra fee of ￥5,500 for chopsticks / ￥6,600 for bowls for each additional guest)
Reservation deadline
Please contact us at least 5 days in advance to check for availability.
Cancelation Policy
No refund for cancelations less than a week before.
Notes
Finished results will be sent to the guest’s hotel within a few days after the workshop, so please schedule accordingly. This workshop involves working with raw lacquer, which can cause severe allergic reactions in people who are allergic to mango or cashew. Please take proper safety precautions.
Join the Experience
Discover how tradition is preserved and form is reimagined.
