Collection: Kazuhiro Yamaguchi

Kazuhiro Yamaguchi | 山口和宏

Ukiha, Fukuoka, Japan

In his early twenties, Yamaguchi wandered through Kyushu, unsure of what to dedicate himself to, visiting various artists and craftsmen. Whenever he found a vibrant area hosting events like film festivals or antique fairs, he would head there. In Fukuoka Prefecture’s Hoshino Village, he assisted pottery artist Yamamoto Genta, who had just opened a kiln and was still in his late thirties. At Genta’s suggestion, Yamaguchi became an apprentice at a folk furniture workshop in Hoshino Village. After three years of training, he moved to the mountains of Ukiha City, a neighboring town.

There, he married a local woman he met in the mountain community, and when their daughter turned four, he single-handedly built a workshop and house for his family and moved there.

Yamaguchi’s workshop is designed to be versatile, allowing him to make everything from furniture to tableware. Once a year, he purchases logs at a timber market held in winter, but since he can’t see the condition of the logs—the knots, color, density, etc.—every purchase is a gamble. He saws the logs and then lets them dry for three years. While sawing, he imagines what he will want to make or what he will want to create three years later. He also began making small items like spoons and plates to minimize waste.

When he receives furniture orders, Yamaguchi visits the client’s home to see the room where the furniture will be placed. “I don’t want my furniture to stand out oddly in someone’s life,” he explains. For Yamaguchi, a design that makes it obvious at a glance who the maker is feels embarrassing. His wooden plates have a distinctive finish on the surface. The soft, subtle texture is achieved by hand-carving with specialized tools that Yamaguchi specially ordered a seasoned toolmaker. When conceptualizing his next piece, he even goes as far as to say that “my own consciousness gets in the way.”

His natural approach to production, avoiding the assertion of self-consciousness as something clumsy, has something in common with the attitude of Buddhist sculptors. Nevertheless, his works are still recognizable at a glance as Yamaguchi’s, showing his unique personality—a manifestation of the mastery of Japanese craftsmanship and an attitude akin to tea ceremony and flower arrangement masters.