The Story from Ferrari on

Maki-E Collection

▼The intriguing and almost lost Art of ancient Maki-E.   
 

Japan is a world apart. Nowhere else is to be found the same attention to details, the same delicate though pervasive elegance which informs every aspect of Japanese life. And the lacquering tradition is a perfect example of this way of being: it refuses speed; it refuses approximation; it stands for purity and eternity. 
 

It was during a research on several Japanese masterworks that we became familiar with the creations of Mr. Tatsuo Kitamura. “Un-ryu-an” is actually one of the best maki-e masters ever, even if he has never been widely known until now: indeed even in his small village, Wajima, the cradle of Japanese lacquer, his name is rarely heard about. This is simply because most of his works are snapped up by collectors in and outside Japan; by aficionados including the Emperor of Japan himself. 
 

Mr. Kitamura’s aim is to add beauty and elegance to every day’s life, and any person having had the chance to watch his masterpieces can easily understand what he means and tries to convey. It was in particular this aspect of his studies which fascinated us: Beauty as a way of enhancing life, Beauty as a guideline in our existences. This is exactly what we also try to express with our best designs, so it was on impulse that we decided to contact his agent and attempt to fix an appointment.

My first approach to Master Kitamura was intuitive, natural. Marked by the rhythm of the day, and the expressions of his face. Kitamura  immediately shook my hand with a gentle attitude, but he opened up to mutual acquaintance only slowly, like somebody who does not want to reveal himself at first glance. Somebody who respects his Art and believes in its ultra-mundane message. 
 

I had the chance to visit his Atelier only few hours later, only when we both felt ready for it. After many questions, and many answers. I think his main concern was to understand if my interest for his art was real, and not just simple anecdotic curiosity. I was asked about Japanese lacquer, and his techniques in particular; about his works on display, and my idea of maki-e on pens. While replying, I could observe his follower artists lingering on their creations: some selecting micro-layers of mother of pearl, some shaping the urushi through the lenses of a microscope, some blending colours.. Sublime. Order and nimbleness. If God exists and we are a sparkle of Him, his Atelier was brimming with light. 
 

It is not only the lacquering process the fascination of this art. The perfection of the wooden bases precedes the elegance of creating a dress for them. Indeed Mr. Kitamura produces also the raw boxes with the same devotion dedicated to the last stage of the decoration, thou making them irreplaceable for his technique. Technique which is Art, as its Greek etymon reminds us. Kitamura is in fact unique in both arts: in creating the bases, in lacquering the wood. 
 

The following day we separated joyfully, after my commitment of sending him ideas he could replicate on our pens. He insisted: he did not want to decide himself on what to draw, in a sort of respect for our objects. “Mine is a decoration of a theme which is the pen” he told me. On the contrary, I believe in the opposite: the pen is the decoration of his maki-e. 
 

After months of experimentation and work, we received the pens from Japan. I showed them to few people, and I do think that it was very intriguing to observe the disparate reactions: interest, indifference, astonishment, surprise, disregard. I am glad about it: if we all had the same opinion, no matter which one, there would be no multiplicity in Life and ultimately no Master Kitamura either.