Ashigara embroidery Kikuaki Ueda 6
- ━ What is the difference between the craft and the art?
- It is difficult to say what are the differences, but I think the craft is handwork and part machine.
It has an artistical value, as well as usefulness.
The art is peculiar to the person and I also think that it catches the eye of people for hundreds of years,
that is art.
This is a story like a dream, When they see my work it leaves a mark in hearts, my work can be left for the coming ages after I disappear. I am doing my work while dreaming of such things.
- ━ How about your activity in the future?
- I want to leave my work for the coming ages.
People around me see my work and many think that I had better leave it for the coming ages.
However I don't sell many, and I don't have a place to keep it. That is the problem. I have got now.
- ━ What do you think about your future successor?
- I have some students in my club but it’s difficult to find my successor now.
Because I am already elderly and busy considering the material, the dyed color, and the work itself. I think it is too late to raise a successor.
You can become very skillfull if you are doing this work in 3 or 5 years but it’s just technic. You also have to see the material with your eyes from the beginning, and also you have to teach yourself to create something that nobody has. It takes 30 or 40 years. I am doing my work while talking with the thread.
I say to my students that the thread is a creature and it is breathing.
But the layman can’t understand it. After loaning a Kimono to someone, the thread of the clothing catches a cold.
But it gets better when put back in the chest of drawers. Thread has a front and a back
When you get used to it you can see the front . But you have to do it for at least 10 years.
Other things you should know is, how to use a needle and thread.
I’ve taught more than 100 students but my successor has to draw a picture, dye the thread and have sense in deciding the color scheme, and then also know how to use a needle in front of students.