Gift — Owari Shippo since 1883
The beauty of the day
you gave it. Forever.
Birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, milestones.
For the moments that deserve to be remembered — a piece of Owari cloisonné
from a kiln that has burned since 1883. Its glass-enamel colors never fade.
Colors that never fade.
Because the color is glass fused at high heat — not paint — light lives inside it. The brilliance of the day you gave it will still be there ten years on. Few crafts suit a gift meant to mark a milestone so completely.
One of a kind.
Never mass-produced. Each piece is shaped by hand — silver wires set upright, enamels laid in, fired again and again. Even from the same design, no two pieces wear the same face. You give the story along with the object.
A meaning, entrusted.
Cloisonné carries motifs beautifully: cherry blossom for a new beginning, the crane for long life. You can choose not merely because it is lovely, but because this meaning belongs to this person.
There is light
inside the color.
The glow of shippo-yaki is not a coating on the surface. Layer upon layer of glass enamel is fired into the metal, so light reaches deep into the color and returns as a lustre no paint can imitate.
Polished to a mirror gloss, or left with a soft matte hand — the finish is the maker's choice. Its true beauty is something you understand the moment you hold it.
One of the most difficult
crafts in the world.
Design. Forming the metal body. Underdrawing. Setting the silver wires. Laying the enamels. Firing. Polishing. Shippo-yaki passes through many stages, and mastering any single one of them takes decades.
In the era when Japanese cloisonné astonished the world's expositions, each stage had its own specialist. That golden age has passed; today a single artisan must acquire many of those stages, one slow year at a time.
Enamel is chemistry.
Silica, red lead, potassium carbonate, borax — many substances go into the enamels and the body beneath them. Misjudge a transition temperature or a difference in hardness and the firing blooms unevenly, or cracks. Reaching an intended color demands real technical knowledge and long experience.
The techniques are countless.
Wired cloisonné is only the foundation. Many further techniques exist — a craft of extraordinary skill and remarkable breadth of expression.
So deep. So difficult.
And still — the color goes on shining, unfaded.
Seven acts of the hand.
- Design
- Metal body
- Underdrawing
- Silver wires
- Enamelling
- Firing
- Polishing
Not a product. You are giving a work.
All of it, from this atelier.
Entrust your wish to a motif.
Being able to say why you chose it — that is the greatest value a gift can hold, especially for someone who already has everything.
Choose by occasion.
Cloisonné comes in three forms — jewelry, framed panels and vessels. Choose the one that suits the person and the moment.
It does not end
at the moment of giving.
Flowers wilt. Sweets are finished. Cloisonné remains.
Worn as a necklace, seen each morning as a panel or a vessel on the shelf. Every time it is used or noticed, the day comes back — and so does the person who gave it.
In a town named for the craft,
firing for 140 years.
Shippo-cho, in Ama, Aichi — a town that took its name from the craft itself. Tamura Shippo built its kiln here in 1883, and the family has passed the work down ever since, making Owari cloisonné, a craft designated as Traditional by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Not preservation alone. Contemporary jewelry, collaborations with Japanese painters, officially licensed works for the Asian Games, presentation pieces for Rally Japan — tradition as a foundation for what comes next.
- Multiple awards at traditional-craft exhibitions
- Award of Excellence, Japan Wa-Culture Grand Prix
- Aichi Governor's Award, Ama City Shippo New Works
- Vases created for the Imperial Household Agency
- And many further awards, solo shows and exhibitions
Or commission
a piece that does not yet exist.
You need not choose only from what exists. A favourite flower, an animal, a remembered landscape — name the motif and the design, and we will make the jewelry or the panel to order.
In an age when anyone can buy the same thing, give something whose reason you can explain. We also welcome corporate anniversaries, special orders and collaborations.
Start a bespoke enquiry
Gift
Give the day a form
that will not fade.
Picture the person who will receive it, and choose the one piece meant for them.
