The Bond Between "Things" and People
A graduate of the Department of Crafts at Tokyo University of the Arts. In high school he intended to go on to study design, but, taking to heart his teacher's words, "You are the type who supports daily life from behind, through technique," he set his sights on craft. As a university student learning forging, iron was the material he found hardest; but when he went to Ishikawa, he was moved by how the rust on the iron he carried revealed the change of place and the change of the material, and he took the path of the wrought-iron artist that led to his present style. In 2024 he received the Encouragement Prize at the 44th Pola Traditional Culture Awards, given by the Pola Foundation for the Promotion of Traditional Japanese Culture. His wrought-iron works of beautiful, light form, which melt into a space and shape its atmosphere, captivate people.
The Bond Between "Things" and People
People live. "Things" support that living. Within the bond and the cycle between people and "things," we refine our sensibility and find calm in our daily lives. The works of Naoki Sakai create a bond between people and "things" and shape the space around them. We are surrounded by all kinds of "things." The house we live in, the bedding we sleep in: all are supported by "things." Even as we choose "things" and build our lives, "things" enrich our lives.
Although he is a maker of such "things," Mr. Sakai felt frustrated at being unable to put the meaning of craft into his own words, and went to Ishikawa to trace the roots of craft. There he saw with his own eyes a scene that could be called the ideal of the "beauty of use" he aspires to. Craft was rooted in daily life, and an indigenous beauty supported that life. Beauty and dwelling were intertwined: a feast of the everyday and the beautiful, so easily forgotten when one lives in a city that changes from moment to moment.
We who live in Japan have a distinctive sensibility nurtured by the turning of the four seasons. Mr. Sakai's works, which shape a space through wrought iron, seem to make us aware of this aesthetic unique to Japan. Forms with ample empty space; lines slightly irregular, as if born of nature; shadows that change with the hours of sunlight. Through the technique of wrought iron, he gives beauty a body.
Moreover, precisely because they are simple, Mr. Sakai's works are not completed by the maker alone. A dialogue arises among the artist, the environment and the viewer. Only when these three become one is a work by Naoki Sakai complete. The artist who makes the "thing" converses with his material and imagines how it will be once finished. In the environment where the work is received, the viewer devises ways to make the work and its surroundings beautiful. Mr. Sakai's works have the appeal of taking us beyond simply looking, refining our observing eye and our intelligence of appreciation and observation.
"Making things is making people," Mr. Sakai says. As people take part and things circulate, "things" speak to people and people contemplate the space. People, "things," environment: through wrought iron, Naoki Sakai continues to express an atmosphere in which all of these circulate naturally.
Naoki Sakai
(1973)
Born in Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture
(2003)
Completed the doctoral program in metal hammering at the Graduate School of Tokyo University of the Arts; awarded a doctorate
(2003–2005)
Part-time lecturer at the same university
(2005–2008)
Trained at Kanazawa Utatsuyama Kogei Kobo
(2010–2012)
Part-time lecturer, Kanazawa University
(2011–2012)
Part-time lecturer, Kanazawa College of Art
(2013–2018)
Specialist staff, Kanazawa Utatsuyama Kogei Kobo
(2024)
"Naoki Sakai: Wrought Iron," Ginza Ippodo Gallery
(Present)
Associate professor, Crafts Course, Department of Fine Arts, Tohoku University of Art and Design. Selected
Awards
(2003)
Nomura Art Prize (collection of The University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts)
(2010, 2013)
World Craft City Declaration Commemorative Prize, Kanazawa City Craft Exhibition
(2012)
Tansuio Prize, Sato Foundation for the Promotion of Arts and Crafts
(2012, 2015)
Sokeikai Prize, Japan Traditional Kogei Metalwork Exhibition
(2013)
Second Grand Prize, International Craft Competition
(2016)
Grand Prize and Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Prize, Tableware Grand Prize
Encouragement Prize, Ishikawa Traditional Kogei Exhibition
Sokeikai Grand Prize, Sokeikai Foundation
(2017)
Asahi Shimbun Prize, Japan Traditional Kogei Metalwork Exhibition
(2018)
First Prize, design competition for the tea house at the Humboldt Forum, Berlin, Germany
(2021)
Kanazawa City Cultural Activity Prize
(2022)
Creating Tradition Prize
(2024)
Received the Encouragement Prize at the 44th Pola Traditional Culture Awards
