Kota Mizushiri

About the Artist

Bringing New Life to Tradition

Lacquer artist Kota Mizushiri pursues possibilities of new styles of lacquer art while carrying on the traditional techniques of Wajima lacquerware. He balances traditional beauty with modern taste using his outstanding techniques of chinkin, makie and inlay of various materials. While growing up in a family of Wajima lacquer artists with a history of 150 years, he has an unusual career of being an art director in the design industry. With this unique background, he has gone beyond the boundaries of tradition and has enhanced Wajima ware to a new artwork resonating with the modern society.

Biography

• 1980
  Born in Wajima CIty, Ishikawa Prefecture
• 2005
  Studies under Satomi MIZUSHIRI, maki-e artisan
• 2010
  Studies under Seiho MIZUSHIRI, gold-inlaid lacquerware artisan
• 2011
  Selected for the first time at the 29th Lacquerware Traditional Kōgei Exhibition
• 2015
  Selected for the first time at the 62nd Japan Traditional Kōgei Exhibition
• 2024
  The Spirit of Noto: Urushi Artists of Wajima and Waves of Resilience, Onishi Gallery ,KOGEI USA ,Melissa Bowers ,Wajima Senshudo, New York City
• 2025
  Bergdorf Goodman collaborates with Salon Art + Design
  Working to revive Wajima lacquerware and the local community as the Secretariat of the Wajima Lacquerware Restoration Council.
  NYK (Nippon Yusen Kaisha) to hold an onboard exhibition aboard the cruise ship Asuka III.

Awards

• 2012
  Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Lacquer Crown Presentation
• 2018
  Gold-inlaid Lacquerware Box "Arabesque with Chrysanthemum Flowers" submitted to the 65th Japan Traditional Kōgei Exhibition purchased by the Imperial Household Agency
• 2023
  Received the Incentive Award at the 63st Ishikawa Traditional Art Crafts Exhibition

Public Collections

• Imperial Household Agency

Official Site / Social Media etc.

• Official Site
• Facebook
• X(formerly Twitter)
• Instagram
• Youtube