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Koji Hatakeyama was born in 1956 in Takaoka, Toyama Prefecture, a mountainous region northwest of Tokyo that has been a centre for bronze, copper, and lacquerware production since the early 1600s. He studied metalwork at the Kanazawa College of Arts and Crafts in 1980 and has since concentrated primarily on creating patinated, cast bronze boxes. From 2017 to 2022 Hatakeyama taught at Kanazawa College of Art as Professor of Metal Casting in the Department of Craft. Years of dedicated experimentation with bronze has led to an outstanding career and his work has been exhibited internationally and is held in numerous museum collections worldwide.
‘I create contained vessels; I try to convey the sense that something is concealed or hidden within. I try to provoke a sense of the spiritual world in my bronze boxes. The patterns and facets I create on the outside are a direct response to the landscape. I find that when using gold or silver leaf within the interiors, there is a sense of enlightenment when opening the lid, my intention is to enter a different world, a different place. This place has no darkness. My consciousness is veiled in bronze.’ – Koji Hatakeyama
Public Collections include:
Victoria & Albert Museum, London; British Museum, London; National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh; Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum, Aberdeen; Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, Birmingham; The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France; Musée Guimet, Paris, France; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, USA; National Museum of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Denmark Royal Family, Copenhagen, Denmark; National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan; Musee Tomo, Tokyo, Japan; MOA Museum of Art, Atami, Japan; MIHO Museum, Shigaraki, Japan.
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