A beautiful dry lacquer box by Tomono Takashi exhibited at the 37th Nihon Dento Shitsugei Ten (National Lacquer Art Exhibition) in 2020 and enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Kanshitsu Kogo Mawaru. It is 21.7 cm (8-1/2 inches) diameter, 19.3 cm 7-3/4 inches) tall and in perfect condition.
Tomono Takashi was born in 1983 in Saku, Nagano Prefecture. He began his career in 2001 working on the lacquer finishing of Sendai Tansu, a traditional craft of Miyagi Prefecture, and later founded an association to preserve this craft. In 2010, he entered the Wajima Lacquerware Training Institute in Ishikawa Prefecture, graduating in 2013, after which he apprenticed under Living National Treasure Komori Kunio. After completing his apprenticeship in 2017, Tomono launched his independent studio, Tomono Lacquer Craft Workshop, in Minamisaku, Nagano, in 2018. He has participated in numerous major exhibitions, including “Reborn Traditions: Contemporary Japanese Crafts from the Ise Collection” (University Museum and Art Gallery, Hong Kong, 2019) and “Lacquer in Motion: Contemporary Expressions in Urushi” (Ishikawa Wajima Lacquer Art Museum, 2023). His work has been featured regularly in exhibitions such as First Patronage Program (3331 Arts Chiyoda), Ichiteki no Urushi (Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi), and Lacquer for Everyday Living (Seibu Ikebukuro). Among his many accolades are the Asahi Shimbun Award at both the Japan Traditional Lacquerware Exhibition (2015) and Eastern Japan Traditional Art Crafts Exhibition (2020), the Japan Kōgeikai Encouragement Prize (2021), the Nagano Prefectural Craft Association President’s Award (2023), and the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award at the 41st Japan Traditional Lacquerware Exhibition (2024).
