Arts and Crafts Motomura

  　Started in 1953 by a diversely skilled,  groundbreaking craftsman Munemutsu Motomura, the atelier, Arts and Crafts Motomura has created numerous fascinatingly original artifacts for three generations, including enamel jewelries, metal works.

  　 Based on his high expertise and craftsmanship, the founder Munemutsu Motomura wrote the Japan’s first comprehensive manual to metal enameling in 1882.   His “ Encyclopedia to Metal Enameling”  was highly acclaimed as a most full-fledged and reliable guidebook which would definitely help any aspiring learners from amateurs to professionals, and won a cultural publication award next year.

  　 In 2004 his sudden death brought the atelier to the verge of closing but his daughter Mutsumi Kufukihara and his granddaughter Tae Kufukihara struggled to sustain it, making strenuous efforts of enhancing their skills and tastes.

   Now supported and loved by the people who love beauty and originality, Arts and Crafts Motomura is ever providing ingenuous accessories and metal works from Kagoshima City, the southern part of Japan.

 

Jewelry Artist  Tae Kufukihara

   　 Born and raised near Tokyo in Japan, Tae Kufukihara has been fond of arts and crafts since her childhood.　When she was 18years old, she decided to enter Kagoshima University, deep down aspiring to learn metal enameling and metal work from her grandfather Munemutsu Motomura.  But unfortunatelly just before knowing her acceptance to the university, Munemutsu suddenly passed away. 

   　Left in despair for a while, she struggled to get up and restart the atelier with her mother, learning metal enameling from her grandmother Sachiko and Munemutsu’s apprentices.  The more she learned,  the more she got fascinated with beautiful colors and brilliance unique to metal enameling combined with metallic luster.

   　Her serious efforts to pioneer new horizons of metal enameling different from Japanese traditional cloisonne led to an encounter with a leading enamel jeweler, Kunio Nakajima.  He helped Tae out of the deadlock of where to go.  Nakajima introduced her to the top jeweler Osamu Shudo and she began to learn jewelry making from scratch. 

   　One year later Tae launched her original brand Tae K. Under this brand she integrated her acquired metal working skills and jewelry making skills to produce her original accessories. 
   　Now she is regarded as a promising jewelry artist full of originality and ingenuity.