「掌の宇宙」 Cosmos on the Palm

“Why did you become a traditional artisan?” This is the most frequently asked question for me, being Japanese, living in Japan and being a Japanese traditional artisan. My answer is always simple. “Why ask? Try it for yourself!”

There are so many techniques and culture that has been lost or long forgotten. I was born in Kyoto, surrounded by full of heritage and traditions. I never thought that these things around me was so valuable, so fragile, and so easily gone forever. As I grew up here in the US in Virginia, its was the turning point of my life. One day I was asked, “Why doesn’t your country value your culture more?” It was shocking. I never thought of such nor never imagined how things were so rapidly changing in Japan.

As I returned to Japan, I started working as a character designer for the game industry. It was the state of art of the period, and was the most promoted job. But as I worked more, I felt that I was missing something in my life. I was just messing with data and things were all digital within the monitor. I wondered what I wanted to become. Then I remembered the question that I was asked while in the states.

I looked for a field of traditional work that was about to cease its history. That is how I became one of the only three Japanese automata builder. I also wanted to be unique, so I decided to be an artisan specializing in a precision miniatures especially of a Japanese folk toys. I am self taught as there was no where I could learn what I wanted to know. From there creating something “different” became my life. My hands create various things that fit on the palm of the hand. All the pieces on the palm shine as the stars in the galaxy, and talks to whoever is seeing it.

I am an Artist, and I am an Artisan at the same time. I will keep creating something different, with the techniques that have been passed on for generations, spiced with my sense and flavor.

Join artist Hiromu Moulinette (Morine)’s workshops on how to make his miniatures and pieces! Find out more in the links below:

• June 22-23, 2019 (2:00pm) | Paint your own Daruma and Fortune Cat
• June 22-23, 2019 (4:15pm) | Asobi no Tsugi ~ Fixing Pottery and Ceramics using Traditional Japanese Methods