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2022 Traditional Crafts Revitalization Contest Ronnie Prize winner: Tokunaga Furniture

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News Update: The 2022 Ronnie Prize winner was announced at our Awards Ceremony, on October 14th. Congratulations to Tokunaga Furniture!

Our

Purpose

Our purpose is to revitalize traditional Japanese master crafts (dentou kougei) by identifying the issues artisans face and implementing solutions for the 21st Century.

JapanCraft21 (JC21) has been created to reverse the rapid decline of traditional Japanese crafts. In addition to helping to create a school of advanced traditional building skills, we are expediently leveraging our resources by launching a series of Japan Traditional Craft Revitalization Contests, each designed to revive a traditional Japanese craft so that it flourishes in the 21st century.   Learn More at What We Do.

Our Programs

IDEA CONTESTS: Our Japan Traditional Craft Revitalization Contests search for exceptional project ideas from individuals with outstanding talent, track records and passion, and provide them with a broad and significant support package.


We co-founded the School of Traditional Building Arts (Shin-Machiya Juku)  in Kyoto to teach rapidly disappearing building skills. Our intensive yearlong courses are held on Sundays to accommodate young working building trades people. Currently we are teaching joinery to carpenters and bamboo mud wall construction to plasterers. An advanced course in Japanese garden building and maintenance as well as training course in the application of natural lacquer are scheduled for 2022. JapanCraft21 (JC21) provides full scholarships to all students.

We at JapanCraft21 are committed to educating young up-and-coming crafts people in such projects as our School for Traditional Building Arts, and to educating the public about the value of fine Japanese Master Crafts through social media and our on-line magazine. Also, in order to maximize our effectiveness in achieving our craft revitalization vision, it is imperative that we educate both our staff and our membership. We accomplish this with regular on-line lectures for all of our members and private cultural events for our patrons.

The RONNIE Prize is awarded to the first place winner in our Japanese Traditional Craft Revitalization Contest, and consists of 5 million yen ($50,000) in project funding for the winning project aiming to revitalize a craft for the 21st Century. The name of the prize was chosen to honor the memory of Ron Beimel, a young man who had a great passion for life and the Japanese culture and pursued his dreams with extraordinary focus, making extraordinary accomplishments during his short lifetime. We hope that the memory of this young man will inspire our contest winner to reach high and to attain their goals.


The trophy given to each Ronnie Prize winner is created by renowned Japanese sculptor, Kan Yasuda. The work crafted from white statuary marble is entitled, Tempi, meaning the "mysteries of heaven."

2021 Contest Winners (Craft Leaders)

Lacquer

Takuya TSUTSUMI

ロニー賞受賞 堤 卓也

Kumihimo

Ryuta FUKUDA

福田 隆太

Wood Furniture

Kenta HIRAI

平井 健太

Kyoto Sashimono

Tomoya HYODO

兵働 知也

Silk Interior

Sachi KITAGAWA

北川 幸

京都室町 伊と幸代表

Ceramics

Katsumi KAKO

加古 勝己

HIkibaku

Kohei MURATA

村田 紘平

Lacquer

Masakuni SEKI

関 昌邦

Kimono

Asako TAKEMI

武美 朝子

Lacquer

Tohru TSUJI

辻 徹

2021 Contest Winners (Craft Leaders)

Lacquer

Takuya TSUTSUMI

ロニー賞受賞 堤 卓也

Kumihimo

Ryuta FUKUDA

福田 隆太

Wood Furniture

Kenta HIRAI

平井 健太

Kyoto Sashimono

Tomoya HYODO

兵働 知也

Silk Interior

Sachi KITAGAWA

北川 幸

京都室町 伊と幸代表

Ceramics

Katsumi KAKO

加古 勝己

HIkibaku

Kohei MURATA

村田 紘平

Lacquer

Masakuni SEKI

関 昌邦

Kimono

Asako TAKEMI

武美 朝子

Lacquer

Tohru TSUJI

辻 徹

Our most recent Presentation

Asia Society Symposium

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