This collection will encourage young people who are dedicated to the path of craftsmanship to consider the important question of what is the standard of beauty. It will also help those who are troubled and lost in the process of making to be rescued from the brink, and will no doubt bring the joy of making and collecting to many readers.

Kazumi Sakata
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Objects drift through time and bring refinement to those who encounter them.

Medieval cutlery discovered in Europe by Kazumi Sakata (the owner of Old tools Sakata) was collected by crafts scholar Hayao Tatsuzawa, who eventually compiled them into a book.
After Tatsuzawa’s passing, the collection passed through the hands of Wajima-based lacquerware artisan Akito Akagi, and now resides with metalwork artist Yūichi Takemata.
These objects have nourished Takemata’s creative practice, allowing him to offer something meaningful to us living in the present.

What are culture and civilization, tradition and inheritance?
Perhaps this book, which documents these pieces of cutlery, offers a glimpse into their essence.

The design is restrained and understated, with all items reproduced at actual size.
Though the refined visual composition is the work of art director Nobuhiro Yamaguchi, it is also deeply shaped by Takemata’s sensibility as a maker.