The work of expert metalworkers from the northwest of Japan is on show in an exhibition for London Design Festival.
Recently opened cultural space Japan House is showing around 300 metal objects ? including cutlery, nails, hoes, scissors, teapots and pipes ? in an exhibition called Biology of Metal: Metal Craftsmanship in Tsubame-Sanjo.
Over 300 metal objects are on show for the exhibition, including a large collection of hoes
The display showcases the centuries-old skills of metalworkers in Tsubame-Sanjo, a small city near the Japan Alps region renowned for its beautiful and functional metal crafts.
Factories and small workshops in the city produce over 80 per cent of Japan's cutlery. The exhibition aims to shed some light on the processes behind its production, and to demonstrate how the industry has adapted in the 400 years that metal has been manufactured in the city. Teapots and vessels in the exhibition are made by The Gyokusend? workshop, using a centuries-old tsuiki copper-hammering technique
Copper teapots and vessels made using the centuries-old tsuiki copper-hammering technique of the Gyokusend? workshop are on display. These items are each made from a single sheet of copper heated and hammered by hand.
These items are each made from a single sheet of copper heated and hammered by hand
Alongside the copperware will be razors made by Ryoichi Mizuochi from Sanjo Seisakusho workshop, the last craftsman making traditional Japanese razors.
These razors, called wag...