The person who showed our couple the wonders of lacquer. That's Mr. Taiichi Kirimoto, a lacquer artisan. We first saw one of his works in a women's magazine, a beautiful bowl with flowing curves. We said, "let's go and see it in person" and drove to Wajima in Ishikawa Prefecture the next day. When we arrived at the gallery, Mr. Takimoto himself happened to be there and welcomed us in. Since then, we've been good friends for 12 years.
  Mr. Kirimoto is very active in speaking at seminars and doing workshops to "let people become more familiar to lacquer" in addition to his work on designing and producing lacquer works and creating with other craftsmen of his generation. All of his programs are popular, and not a few participants have said that their view of lacquer has changed thanks to Kirimoto-san.
 Do you know about lacquer that can be used with metal cutlery?The surface of lacquer is very delicate. Therefore, it is usually considered as taboo to combine lacquer with metal cutlery. However, Mr. Kirimoto's lacquered works are different, as they are very hard and sturdy. Lacquer cloth is applied to base natural wood. Then, diatomaceous earth collected from Mt. Komine in Wajima City that has been fired and made into a powder called "Wajima jinoko" mixed with lacquer is applied to the surface. When Toki no Kumo used to operate an Italian restaurant, we served pasta on these lacquered dishes. Many of our customers marveled that metal forks could be used on lacquerware.
 Lacquerware for serving at a tea shop, a lacquered counter for a newly opening foreign-owned hotel... It looks like we won't be able to take our eyes off of Mr. Kirimoto who continues his daily quest to spread the world of lacquer.