ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) opened ITOCHU AOYAMA ART SQUARE in the CI Plaza, a commercial facility situated next to ITOCHU’s Tokyo Head Office, in October 2012. The gallery was part of ITOCHU’s social contribution activities, with the aim of developing the future generation through art, contributing to the local community, and promoting both local and international art and culture.

A new project, TOKYO Teshigoto, will be held starting on Saturday, April 23, 2016.

The city of Tokyo and the Tokyo Metropolitan Small and Medium Enterprise Support Center launched the TOKYO Teshigoto project this year as an initiative to promote the development of new traditional crafts as well as their popularization both at home and abroad with the aim of creating new traditional craft products that modern consumers look for and to pave the way for a new market in Japan and overseas. TOKYO Teshigoto exhibition to be held this time will feature displays that introduce support products for this project as well as the deep and profound world of traditional crafts. It will also unveil, for the first time, new products that have been developed this year by a team of artisans and designers.

Please visit the exhibition, which presents a cultured and charming lifestyle surrounded by traditional crafts, taking on the challenge of creating new crafts that are full of sensibility and are quintessentially Tokyo. The exhibition also aims for the audience to capture a broad understanding of the outstanding functionality of ordinary items that are also stylish and smart, have been loved by the masses and continuously handed down as they were polished and refined as a result of the vigor exemplified by the skills and techniques of artisans in Edo, who were enriched by their progressive and enterprising spirit.