Collaborations

KOGEI USA is a U.S. nonprofit organization whose aim is to raise awareness of Japanese art outside Japan. Under the three-part slogan “Securing Our Heritage | Nurturing Our  Traditions | Building Our Futures,” KOGEI USA will mount exhibitions, facilitate gifts of art to leading international museums, and sponsor artist workshops and other outreach programs, with the support of the Government of Japan.

KOGEI USA takes its name from the Japanese word kōgei (工芸), originally coined over a century ago simply to translate the word “craft.” KOGEI is endowed today, however, with a much higher significance, denoting Japanese hand-made artifacts that, while innovative and original, continue to be made using traditional philosophies, materials, and techniques. For a work to be described as KOGEI, it must reflect not just contemporary creativity but also an uncompromising dedication to perfection, refinement, and the preservation of techniques handed down from generation to generation over many centuries.

In the US and Europe, this new KOGEI ideal has already stimulated fresh appreciation for Japanese culture, encouraging consumers to incorporate hand-made Japanese artifacts in their day-to-day living. One of our goals at KOGEI USA is to communicate this wave of Western enthusiasm back to Japan and promote awareness, especially among younger artists, of exciting new opportunities to promote their work in overseas markets.

Another core mission of KOGEI USA is to showcase “Living National Treasures” (known formally as “Preservers of Important Intangible Cultural Properties”), senior artists whose lifetime of achievement has been officially recognized by the Government of Japan. Seen alongside the work of younger talents, masterpieces by “Living National Treasures” will help visitors to KOGEI USA’s international exhibitions and events deepen their understanding of Japan’s cultural heritage and its future opportunities. In addition, KOGEI USA will cultivate further global connections by promoting exchange with non-Japanese artists who share our passion for preserving and handing down the best of the world’s traditional hand-made arts.

In 2021, Nana Onishi, founder of KOGEI USA and principal of Onishi Gallery,  collaborated with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in its acquisition of 18 pieces of contemporary Japanese metalwork. The acquisition was marked by an exhibition that was supported by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs of Japan and sponsored by leading Japanese IT company Digital Garage and its CEO Kaoru Hayashi, who purchased and donated the works to the Museum’s Department of Japanese Art. As Mr. Hayashi commented at the time:

Artistic creativity knows no borders. I appreciate works from many different cultures, but I’ve found that overseas audiences who focus purely on international contemporary art sometimes find it hard to appreciate the finer points of modern Japanese crafts with their roots in traditional practice. In Europe and especially in the United States it’s taken for granted that public museums are sustained as much by private generosity as they are by the taxpayer, but Japanese philanthropists aren’t yet fully on board with this funding model. As a Japanese collector, I feel it’s my duty to both foster wider understanding of my country’s culture and encourage private generosity toward the museum sector.