Sfera - Japanese Craft
Sfera
Kyoto Master Crafts People
We shot this wonderful piece in April 2018 in Kyoto at the height of the Cherry Blossom season
and exhibited it at the Sfera building
the following year 2019 - at the height Cherry Blossom season.
Shigeo Mashiro, the visionary who is Sfera, combines modern
world designs utilising the skills of traditonal Kyoto crafts makers..
Keiko Nishimura - Urushi Lacquerware
Masichi Ishida - Bamboo weaving craftsperson
Chikako Ueda - Metal craftsperson
Hosai Matsubayashi - Pottery craftsperson
I was shooting in NYC and during that time monitoring the Japanese Cherry Blossom Forecast.
It didnt take too long, maybe a week to get the exact days to be in Kyoto.
We contacted all the team and Crafts people to set dates for shooting-
Everything aligned off I flew Westwards across the US and over the Pacific.
Landing in Tokyo Haneda - train straight to Kyoto -
I have shot some great stories for Hole & Corner over the years and the
nicest thing for me is I am usually alone or with 1 photo assistant.
There is no art director, no client, no 3rd party agenda.
Kyoto was especially lovely because I was alone a lot, for 14 days - shooting on my own.
Very little dialogue because my Japanese is very limited and all of the people I photographed did not speak English, which I think aided the shoot, it allowed the shooting experience to be silent, still
You can read a full account of this shoot in Hole & Corner.