thingness

Thingness — is a quality that evokes in me the sense of presensing, quiet yet alive. My multi-faceted practice explores and engages with this quality through the practices of making, writing, curating, and mentoring.

About me — Maiko Tsutsumi

I studied and apprenticed in woodworking and Japanese lacquer work in Kyoto in the 1990s before moving to London to study furniture design at the Royal College of Art in London. I later completed a practice based PhD The Poetics of Everyday Objects at Kingston University while working for the furniture and product design industry. In 2008, I took on the course leader role for MA Designer Maker at Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London, which I ran until 2020.

The underlining principle of my practice - making, research, curating, teaching and facilitating - is that of the craftsmanship that I began cultivating during my training in woodworking and Japanese lacquer work in Kyoto, Japan. Predating these trainings, frequent visits to the collection of ethnological objects at the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka planted in me a lasting fascination in the world of objects and meaning making. To me, this was the experience that firmly placed the act of tool-making in the sphere of humanity that we share beyond cultural borders.

Ethnological objects, folk objects and architectural details found in all cultures that speak of human ingenuity, and skills involved in their ‘come-to-be’ stayed as my key creative inspiration.

My curatorial practice was a platform for me to share my research process with the students who were developing their individual or collective creative practices. The research, which is on-going, has given me an insight into the workings of creative processes specially those that center around the engagement with materials and actions.

The key themes of my research are: material and human agencies; making and problem solving skills, and how these relate to tacit knowing; the role of language (textual and speech) and gestures in creative processes.

I continue to explore these themes in broader societal contexts, with a firm belief in the wisdom of conscious engagement with inherent material qualities and the skills to transform/configure these qualities into meaningful forms. 

Please get in touch if you would like to find out more about my work.

Contact: info@maikotsutsumi.com