2025 International Craft Forum

Takamitsu TanakaJapan

 Tanaka Design Laboratory (Science of Design)

After graduating from Kobe Design University, Dr. Tanaka got an MA in industrial design at the Graduate School of Central St Martins College of Art and Design, in London. After graduation, he worked at Tanaka Design Office as a product designer. Working on the Design of home electronics, cell phones, industrial machines, lights and so forth, he got many prizes of "Good Designing Award". After getting his Doctor's degree at Chiba University, he became a professor at Iwate University. With a focus on collaboration study with companies and contract studies, he exhibits a lot of Nanbu Tekki Products(Traditional Japanese Diecast) especially in Europe. He has conducted cooperative studies with Iwayado Tansu Company(Traditional Japanese Furniture), which works in traditional hand crafted furniture in Iwate, from 2005.

Yuko FukatsuJapan

Tama Art University president of the Alumni Association

Explore culture, fashion, art, and society through the study of clothing history and dyeing and weaving history. She researches applying traditional dyeing and weaving techniques to sustainable textile design and collaborates with people in local communities.

Arisumi Mitamura Japan

Chairman of the Japan Association for the Promotion of Culture

Professor Mitamura has worked at Tokyo University of the Arts for 44 years. His family has been engaged in lacquerware for generations. Since 1703, it has been passed down to the eleventh generation. In addition to inheriting the techniques of their predecessors, each generation has also added their own artistic expertise and innovations to present lacquer art works that are different from the past. For example, "Multi-layered Makie" and "Urique Tenmoku Makie" are lacquer art techniques created by Mr. Mitamura through the accumulation of experience. They show the layered sense of Makie and are also widely used in his creations. In addition, Professor Mitamura, who is good at carving, uses the changes in the shape of the wood frame to create various works that express virtual and real spaces. He also uses the density of gold and silver powder to make the works appear like a fantasy world.

Nishibori KotaroJapan

Hiyoshiya Fifth-generation President

The fifth generation successor of Hiyoshiya, the only remaining manufacturer of Kyoto umbrellas. Born in Shingu City, Wakayama Prefecture. After returning to Japan from studying in Canada, he worked as an interpreter at the city hall. After getting married, he was deeply attracted by the charm of the Kyoto umbrellas run by his wife's family, "Hiyoshiya", so he left his job as a civil servant and embarked on the path of a craftsman. In 2004, he became the fifth-generation successor. The company also proposed the corporate philosophy of "Tradition means continuous innovation", which not only continues the lifeline of traditional Japanese umbrellas, but also actively applies the technology and structure of Japanese umbrellas to the development of new products; the goal is to become a global, long-established business. Then, it collaborated with domestic and foreign designers, artists, and architects to develop co-branded products. In 2008, it began to actively participate in overseas exhibitions such as Maison&Objet (Paris), Ambiente, Tendence, Light+Builddng (Frunkfurt), and ICFF (N.Y.). Focusing on the Japanese-style lighting fixtures "KOTORI" series, we began marketing and exporting to overseas markets and are currently selling them in approximately fifteen countries around the world. In 2012, Hiyoshiya established TCI Laboratory Co., Ltd. by leveraging its accumulated experience and network, and began to assist Japanese traditional crafts and small and medium-sized enterprises to enter overseas markets, develop products and open up sales channels. In 2012, it also served as the organizer of the Contemporary Japanese Design Exhibition held in Milan, Italy (Fuori Salone).

Gideon LoewyDenmark

Adjunct Associate Professor at the Private Feng Chia University Institute of Architecture and EMBA

Gideon Loewy, adjunct associate professor of the EMS cross-domain innovation and integration executive master's program at the Graduate Institute of Industrial Engineering at National Taiwan University and GMBA instructor, has more than 30 years of global practical experience and has developed multiple design and management consulting models to serve design and experience economy. He uses design strategies and innovative management to upgrade companies, create high added value and unique competitive advantages, and to match brand market and blue ocean industry strategies to create global competitiveness. The following is the management consulting service model he has developed.

In 1982, he founded the Scandinavian Design Studio in Copenhagen, Denmark. Scandinavian Design Studio is a company with rich experience and its works cover the fields of architectural design, commercial design, industrial design, etc. Most of the manufacturers it has served are world-renowned brands. For example, the world-famous Danish royal audio brand Bang & Olufsen (B&O), which has a history of 80 years, has been their client for more than ten years, and Gideon Loewy and his design team have been involved in the design of various products.

Saengrawee SinghawiboonThailand

Deputy Director of the Thailand Craft Promotion Center

Independent Business and Product Development Consultant and former deputy CEO at Thai Support Arts and Crafts International Centre of Thailand.

Yunkyung SeoKorea

Project Manager of Korea Craft Trend Exhibition

Team Head, Craft Cultural Industry, KCDF [email protected]

Seo Yunkyung is currently working at the Korea Craft and Design Foundation (KCDF), an affiliate organization under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea. For over 15 years, she has been leading international promotion and exchange projects for Korean craft. Her work focuses on planning and operating programs that support craft artists in expanding their markets both domestically and internationally.

She has collaborated with a wide range of museums and institutions abroad and has played a key role in expanding Korea's global craft network by establishing MOUs with organizations such as Ateliers d'Art de France and the Crafts Council UK. Seo also manages the Craft Trend Fair, Korea's largest craft fair and a flagship project of KCDF, where she explores new distribution channels and presents emerging trends in Korean craft.

Alvin TjitrowirjoIndonesia

alvinT CEO

ALVIN TJTROWIRJO Indonesian-born product designer Alvin Tjitrowirjo has built a solid and respectable career over nearly two decades by remaining faithful to his place of origin. Tjitrowirjo strives to create a new design language that projects a new attitude and mindset of contemporary Indonesia through his furniture brand, AlvinT, and his recently founded multidisciplinary design & strategy firm, Shape of Thoughts. Placing strong importance on creating a distinct brand of Indonesian design that draws from the country's cultural wealth by utilizing local materials and craftsmen, Tjitrowirjo has since continued to spread his influence on the local design scene.

Tjitrowirjo graduated from RMIT University in Australia and IED Instituto Europeo di Design, Madrid, with a bachelor's and master's degree in Product Design. With the recently opened alvinT Gallery at Indonesia's Design District, Tjitrowirjo wishes to expand his role as a designer to reestablish the disconnected emotional relationship between the People, Place, and Culture. Tjitrowirjo also co-initiated a design collective called Millimeter Manifesto to promote synergy among 9 Indonesian product designers with key design Industry stakeholders.

Tien-Li, Chen

National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute Director

The first director appointed under the Education Personnel Appointment Regulations, graduated from the Carpentry Department of Gongdong Technical High School, a well-known carpenter training school. He was formerly a full-time professor in the Department of Industrial Design at the National Taipei University of Technology and served as the director of the Wood Art Center. He has all-round professional qualities in academics, art, and technology, and has complete experience and rich practical experience. We look forward to Chen Dianli leading the Craft Center to continuously enhance the development of Taiwan's craft culture, chart a new course for Taiwan's craft, build a complete craft industry system, and innovate a new vision for Taiwan's craft.

Jun-Liang Chen

Freeimage Design Director

"He has decades of brilliant achievements in the industry and was once the chief curator of the Taiwan Cultural Expo. When he was young, his family ran a publishing house. In high school, he won an award for the cover design of the book "Report to the Class Monitor". However, he has always been thinking about how to create personal uniqueness and has worked harder to hone his personal writing skills. His copywriting design has repeatedly delivered outstanding results at CommonWealth Magazine, where he worked in the past.

Born in Hsinchu in 1964, he graduated from the Graduate Institute of Fine Arts, National Taiwan Normal University. His works are good at using elements such as images, text, writing, and codes, and interpreting the oriental humanistic spirit with minimalist modern techniques. He is known as the "design poet."

Chiou, Shang-chia

President of National Tainan University of the Arts

The fifth winner of the National Industry-University Master Award, Qiu Shangjia, president of Tainan University of the Arts, is the first winner in the "humanities, design, and art fields" since the award was established. Chiu Shang-chia is devoted to the preservation and restoration of Taiwan's historic cultural assets. In addition to caring about the talent development of traditional craftsmen, he also assists the Ministry of Culture in establishing a benchmark for the functions of traditional craftsmen, laying a foundation for the sustainable development of our country's cultural asset restoration and the careers of traditional craftsmen.

Hsiao Tsung-Huang

Director of the National Palace Museum

Hsiao Tsung-Huang (born 1958) is a Taiwanese museum scholar and politician from a farming family in Chiayi. He earned his Bachelor's degree from Chinese Culture University's Department of Fine Arts and his Master's degree from the Graduate Institute of Arts Administration and Management at Taipei National University of the Arts.

Chen, Chi-Ming

Director-General of the Bureau of Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Culture.

He holds a Master's degree from the Graduate Institute of Civil Engineering, National Cheng Kung University.

His extensive career includes:
* Director, National Center for Traditional Arts
* Chief Secretary, Ministry of Culture
* Director, National Taiwan Museum
* Director, Department of Arts Development (formerly Department of Cultural Resources), Council for Cultural
Affairs, Executive Yuan * Deputy Director, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts

Jia-haur Liang

Professor and Director of Ceramics Studio, Crafts and Design Dept., National Taiwan University of Arts

PhD in Visual Art (Ceramics), SCA, The University of Sydney, Australia.
MFA with teaching certificate, Ceramics, National Taiwan University of Arts.
BFA, Crafts and Design Department, National Taiwan University of Arts.

Wang Hsia-Chun

Prior to the age of 34, Wang Hsia-Chun worked in advertising planning and served as an art director for several films, including "The Story of a Discharged Prisoner" (Yu Ching Sao), and also worked as an actor and director. Driven by a passion for aesthetics and an ideal, he resolutely left the film industry to study crystal glass and porcelain creation at the College for Creative Studies (CCS) in Detroit, USA.

In 1988, he co-founded Liuli Gongfang, Taiwan's first glass art studio, with his film industry colleagues Chang Yi and Loretta H. Yang, where he was responsible for creation and technical instruction. In 1994, he left Liuli Gongfang and, in the same year, established tittot (琉園). He led Taiwanese glass art through breakthroughs in creative techniques and mass production, transforming it into an international luxury brand symbolizing national honor. After years of effort, tittot became Taiwan's first publicly listed cultural and creative industry company and built the first crystal glass museum in the Chinese-speaking world in 1999.

Driven by his yearning for beauty and the anticipation of breakthroughs in white porcelain manufacturing technology, he dedicated over three years to intensive research, discarding tens of tons of failed clay. With the aspiration of being "not just the best, but the only," he overcame the technical challenges of shrinkage, cracking, softening, and deformation during high-temperature porcelain firing. This breakthrough shattered the 1,800-year-old mold of vessel shapes since the late Eastern Han Dynasty, injecting a sleek and robust contemporary style into the classical, ornate, and elegant porcelain DNA.