Interview
I was interviewed by Scott Haas in 2023.
Dr. Haas visited my atelier and saw with his own eyes my lacquerware itself and the process of creation. The contents of the interview are posted below.
The Woodturner: Yasushi Satake.
The art of creating objects from wood is demonstrated today by Yasushi Satake, the third generation of artisans, in Yamanaka Onsen. Challenges in this work are addressed by the woodturner.
For one thing, techniques and methods that are rooted in history must be practiced and mastered. At the same time, the artists’s individuality has to be expressed. Balancing tradition with creativity is enormously difficult: that is the challenge of his art and the creative process.
While this process is going on, factory production elsewhere competes with the independent artisan: realizing an artistic vision where the competition produces “knock-offs” that costs less is a tough reality, but it can be inspiring!
Consumers and producers of art, in tandem, have to establish the value of the wooden objects. That level of communication is a third challenge.
Artists who meet these challenges successfully are increasingly rare. To do so requires high level skill, self-awareness, passion for the art, concentration, and commitment.
Yasushi Satake explained how he does it.
You have talked about your philosophy of lacquerware: “To create something that expresses its natural essence.” Please say more.
The beauty of nature, with each region in Japan having its own culture, is where I begin. I was born and raised in Yamanaka, and always saw and even felt the presence of the mountain behind my home. So in my art I want to express the beauty of Yamanaka: its atmosphere where I grew up.
You have spoken about choosing, “the right trees,” for your work. Which trees do you use?
I try to choose the tree that best expresses the object I’m going to create. These include: sakura, horse chestnut, Japanese elm, Japanese maple, Japanese oak, black persimmon, beech, pine, and ordinary chestnut. These are the trees that go well with lacquer; the surface will be beautiful. Lots to choose from! Then, too, I use the sap of the urushi tree for the lacquer.
Please show us and tell us about the essential tools you designed and made for your work.
photographs of the tools.
Are your objects designed, in part, to be elements of the interior design of homes?
Not really: I don’t think of my objects in that precise way. Rather, I make them keeping in mind that I hope and expect that guests will use them, not just look at them on shelves or in glassed-in cabinets. I think of the beauty that comes with daily use. This isn’t decorative art.
After the disaster of your studio burning down in 2017, the renowned architect Toyo Ito designed your new studio, where you work now and where we are meeting today. Please tell us about his design and how the collaboration came about.
Hidetoshi Nakata, the famous football player, was a friend of both Ito-san and my father. In addition to football, Nakata-san, who played in Italy and England, was keen on introducing Japanese art and culture to the West. Nakata-san introduced Ito to my father.
In 2017, when the studio burned down, Ito came by to express his regrets to my father. At that time, he asked my father to let him know if he could do anything to help. Which he did! Ito designed the new studio in 2018, and completed the work in 2019. He told my father that his idea was, first of all, to give the new studio more openness, which he felt would enhance creativity. To make a stage for the artist to create. He modernized our space.
How did COVID change you as an artist? Did it change your philosophy in terms of what you want to create?
I can’t say that the pandemic changed my philosophy, but what did happen was that it deepened my appreciation for my life and work. What I really felt was being alive in Yamanaka: the beauty of silence, the beauty of nature.