From Wednesday 6 January through Wednesday 20 January 2010, Spiral Garden on the first floor of Spiral in Minami-Aoyama hosts Kamide, Kutani, Keigo — “Kutani Connection.” The show introduces a fresh strand of Kutani ware through two linked voices: the Kamide Chozaemon kiln in Nomi, Ishikawa Prefecture — a workshop with history stretching back to the Meiji era — and Keigo Kamide, a young artist positioned to carry that lineage forward.
The exhibition dates are long past; treat hours, fees, and side events as historical.
Spiral’s first show of 2010
Spiral opened its 2010 exhibition calendar with this Kutani-focused project. The pairing is deliberate: a established kiln rooted in Ishikawa craft and a successor-generation maker who reframes what “Kutani” can mean in contemporary life.
The venue, Spiral Garden, sits inside Spiral — a Tokyo institution that has long framed itself around merging daily life and art. That setting matches the exhibition’s pitch: ceramics that are not locked behind museum glass but meant to be lived with, laughed at, and reconsidered.
Beyond the usual Kutani picture
Walk into the gallery and the first surprise is scale and tone. More than thirty works fill the room, and many refuse the stock image Kutani triggers — “Ishikawa traditional craft” or “ornate tableware” as a default mental picture.
The Kamide Chozaemon side brings real technique and continuity. Inherited skills remain visible in the finish and structure. At the same time, motifs often come from ordinary surroundings: objects and references pulled from everyday life, then pushed through free imagination. The result is a family of pieces that share a kiln identity without sharing a single look.
Humor is part of the grammar. A teapot fitted with tires becomes a “running teapot.” A sake cup shaped like an ice-cream cone reads as a “cone cup.” These are still usable vessels — daily tools with a small twist of play — and that lightness is central to how the show asks you to look.
Two headline works anchor the 2010 lineup in the source copy. One is a large confectionery jar shaped like a skull, decorated with the classic hanazume floral pattern. The other is a newly completed globe. Both signal that tradition is not being discarded; specific Kutani decorative language is being applied to shapes and subjects the genre rarely claimed before.
One medium, many ways to live with it
What ties the diversity together is Kutani itself — one ceramic medium, many relationships to it. Coverage lists a range of modes: use, display, celebrate, cherish, play, learn. That list matters because it reframes the exhibition as an invitation rather than a lecture.
The show argues that Kutani can step outside its familiar box without losing craft credibility. A humorous surface does not cancel technical depth. Instead, the combination nudges viewers to notice how much ordinary life already contains small shifts in form and meaning — if you slow down enough to see them.
Talks and the KUTANI SEAL workshop
During the run, Spiral schedules programming meant to deepen contact between artists and visitors.
Artist talk — Keigo Kamide × Fumio Nanjo (director, Mori Art Museum)
- Date: Wednesday 20 January
- Time: from 19:00
- Capacity: 50 seated
“KUTANI SEAL” workshop
The workshop uses the KUTANI SEAL project — built around transfer techniques — to make Kutani feel approachable rather than distant.
- Dates: Saturday 9 January, Sunday 10 January, Saturday 16 January, Sunday 17 January
- Times: 15:00 and 18:00 sessions
- Fee: ¥3,500 (tax included)
- Capacity: 15 per session
- Note: finished pieces are shipped afterward
Practical details (historical)
- Dates: Wednesday 6 January – Wednesday 20 January 2010
- Hours: 11:00–20:00
- Admission: Free
- Venue: Spiral Garden (Spiral 1F)
- Address: 5-6-23 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo
- Telephone: 03-3498-1171
- Organizer reference (historical): SPIRAL official site
Why it belongs in the archive
Minami-Aoyama sits a short ride from Shibuya’s core — close enough that Spiral’s exhibition calendar often appeared on sibch.tv as part of the wider “what’s happening near the district” map. Kutani Connection is a useful 2010 footnote because it documents a moment when a regional kiln story was staged in Tokyo as contemporary design conversation, not folk-craft nostalgia.
For a present-day view of the Shibuya basin from the scramble side of that map, see the Shibuya Crossing live camera. Travelers stacking Shibuya culture stops with a longer outing can compare options in best day trip from Tokyo.
