Masato Kinoshita - Ohkawa Kumiko craftsman

Ohkawa Kumiko Series 3

Masato Kinoshita has a very friendly round face. I was curious about why he got into this art and became a craftsman who could  receive collaborations such as JR Kyushu Seven Stars and the world-famous brand Louis Vuitton. I had a chance to talk with him and heard his various stories over an hour-long interview. I would like to introduce his story to you all to get to know him well as well as his crafts and its background.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　https://bulan.co/swings/ookawa_kumiko/

First of all, why did you want to become an artisan of Kumiko?

His father was running a joinery shop in Ohkawa city and Masahito grew up looking at his father’s job and it was natural for him to become a joinery craftsman.  He consulted with his father that he wanted to go to apprenticeship as soon as he graduated from junior high school. His father told him that he should go to high school. He negotiated that he would start working if he failed the exam to go to high school. Then what happened was that he passed the exam… hahaha he did not even intentionally tried to fail the exam and he did his best which turned out that he had to go to high school. However, he was surprised at how these three years made a big impact and a difference on what his father said later.

continued…

interviewer : Hiroshi Onaka